The coastal rainforests of eastern and southeastern Brazil – also known as “Mata Atlântica“ – are home to many unique species of animals and plants and belong to the most diverse terrestrial habitats. Almost each year new bird taxa are described from this part of South America. However, due to the increasing expansion of conurbations like Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, or São Paulo, and the conversion of native forest into agricultural land since the middle of the 20th century, more than 90% of the rainforest has gone for ever. The Mata Atlântica is the most threatened continental ecosystem on earth. Current tropical forest research is focusing on the few remaining connected forest areas in the mountainous regions of Brazil as well as forest islands, both of which still hold many (avi-)faunistic surprises.
Against this background, the Brehm Fund decided to support a field research project to improve our knowledge of poorly known but concretely endangered representatives of the Brazilian avifauna and to contribute to their future protection. The study areas are located in the federal states of Espírito Santo and Bahia.

In summer 2004, the Brehm Fund  project named “Harpyie“ started as a cooperation between Brazilian and German researchers. The name refers to the most powerful South American raptor, the Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja), which has its eastern distribution limits in the central Mata Atlântica; its status and the threats it faces are analyzed within this study. The field work is supervised by Prof. M. de Vasconcelos and his team from the Universidade de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte.

The bioacoustics, reproductive biology, distribution patterns, and migratory behavior of endemic birds are studied, for example species such as the furnariids Oreophylax moreirae and Asthenes luizae, Slender Antbird (Rhopornis ardesiacus), Grey-backed Tachuri (Polystictus superciliaris), Buff-throated (or Pale-throated) Pampa-Finch (Embernagra longicauda), and the extremely rare hummingbirds Margaretta’s Hermit (Phaethornis margarettae), Hooded Visorbearer (Augastes lumachella) and Hyacinth Visorbearer (Augastes scutatus). The methods used include mist-netting, point-counts and banding, as well as measurement of body size and mass, and determination of age, sex ratio, molt status, territory size, and habitat preferences. Subsequently, based on statistical methods, ecological factors like size of forest fragments and degree of isolation are also analyzed since they can significantly affect the rarity status of bird species.

Another study topic is pollination ecology, involving bird-plant interactions. Hummingbirds (Trochilidae), as the most important avian pollinators in the Neotropics, are used as a model case. Trochilids are specifically adapted to visiting flowers and nectar-feeding, e.g., by their hovering or backwards flight, and their extremely elongated bill and tongue. They are also bioindicators, because the ratio between specialized and unspecialized pollinators may indicate the degree of disturbance in ecosystems with different ecological restrictions.

Finally, within the project young Brazilian scientists will gain experience in the methods of modern avifaunistic field research (data collection, analysis). Such  training is a necessary tool for later work in local environmental departments, which are not only owners of forests but also have diverse administrative and supervisory tasks in national parks and nature reserves, and are responsible for the development of plans for the management and conservation of still unprotected areas.