Not seen by scientists for the reason that first specimen was described almost a century in the past, Kaempfer’s woodpecker (Celeus obrieni) was “rediscovered” within the mid-2000s.Listed as a susceptible species, this Brazil-endemic chicken is threatened by the widespread agricultural conversion of the Cerrado savanna, its habitat, and by wildfires.In the Brazilian state of Tocantins, the Araguaia Institute, a conservation NGO, created the primary protected space for the woodpecker after it managed to buy the land — an more and more fashionable technique for preserving what stays of the Cerrado biome and its biodiversity.
Conservationist George Georgiadis vividly remembers the primary time he noticed Kaempfer’s woodpecker, a species as soon as regarded as on the point of extinction. He heard its drumming, then the chicken flew out from the bush, filling the forest with its dramatic cackle. The encounter impressed Georgiadis, co-founder of the Araguaia Institute, a conservation NGO, to dedicate himself to the safety of the uncommon chicken and its habitat, the Cerrado savanna in Brazil.
It’s been 5 years since a number of hundred hectares of Cerrado panorama within the state of Tocantins turned the primary sanctuary for Kaempfer’s woodpecker (Celeus obrieni). The space that after confronted an ever-expanding agricultural frontier and the hazard of wildfires turned a reserve after the land was acquired privately. Although nonetheless going through dangers, this space is now a part of a rising community of protected lands safeguarding the woodpecker and different threatened species of the Cerrado.
An elusive woodpecker
With its wine-hued head, cream-colored physique, and its wings striped in black and chestnut brown, Kaempfer’s woodpecker makes fairly an impression. Yet, regardless of its conspicuous seems to be, the chicken has managed to evade detection for nearly a century.
First described by ornithologist Emil Kaempfer within the mid-Twenties within the Brazilian state of Piauí, east of Tocantins, it was initially regarded as a subspecies of the rufous-headed woodpecker (Celeus spectabilis). But variations in habitat, habits and plumage led some ornithologists to conclude they had been taking a look at a brand new species. They didn’t have the prospect to verify it, nonetheless: with no additional sightings of the chicken recorded, they thought that Kaempfer’s woodpecker had disappeared.
A Kaempfer’s woodpecker. Image courtesy of Tulio Dornas.
It wasn’t till the early 2000s {that a} recent take a look at the variations between the 2 woodpecker species confirmed that Kaempfer’s woodpecker was certainly a definite species endemic to Brazil. Then, in 2006, biologist Advaldo Prado captured a stay particular person in Tocantins, displaying that scientists beforehand had simply been trying within the fallacious place.
Tulio Dornas, an ornithologist from the Federal University of Tocantins who has studied the species’ ecology and distribution, mentioned an error within the early information might have contributed to the confusion. Kaempfer’s unique specimen, he mentioned, “was collected on the excessive fringe of the Cerrado, throughout an expedition to the Caatinga, so ornithologists again then wrongly assumed it was a chicken from that biome,” Dornas advised Mongabay.
Yet even within the Cerrado, discovering the chicken generally is a problem, he added. The species thrives within the gallery forests that line the riverbanks of the Cerradão, a sort of dry forest inside the savanna ecosystem. They’re significantly keen on shaded areas with mature taboca bamboo crops (Gauda paniculata), which host the woodpecker’s essential meals supply: ants. Reliant on just a few ant species that nest inside the bamboo, the woodpeckers flit between thickets, drilling holes into the shoots to extract their prey.
As researchers narrowed down the chicken’s habitat and intensified their search, sightings started to be reported from a number of Brazilian states, together with Goiás, Matto Grosso, Maranhão and Piauí, indicating that whereas the woodpecker was uncommon, it wasn’t as endangered as beforehand thought. As a consequence, its conservation standing on the IUCN Red List improved from critically endangered to susceptible.
But with about 47% of the Cerrado’s unique cowl misplaced to agriculture, the habitat of Kaempfer’s woodpecker stays below strain; as we speak, it’s both severely fragmented or at imminent danger of agricultural conversion. As extra particulars in regards to the species got here to gentle, concern about its future has additionally elevated.
“We couldn’t discover it in a single protected space, be it a nationwide or state park, wherever in Brazil,” Dornas mentioned.
David Vergara-Tabares, a researcher at Argentina’s National Research and Scientific Training Council (CONICET) who has studied land-use impacts on woodpeckers globally, mentioned the scenario going through Kaempfer’s woodpecker isn’t unusual within the area.
“Protected areas cowl lower than 10% of the areas the place these birds are present in South America,” he advised Mongabay. “Approximately 1 / 4 of woodpecker species’ distribution ranges are affected by agriculture and urbanization. It’s an issue that has been worsening lately.”
A savanna stronghold
In the Araguaia Valley of Tocantins, the place the Amazon Rainforest meets the Cerrado, lies Cantão State Park. Spanning 90,018 hectares (222,440 acres), the park features a vary of ecosystems, together with rainforest, wetland and savanna, and is house to greater than 390 species of birds and mammals, together with jaguars (Panthera onca), big anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), big otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) and tapirs (Tapirus terrestris ). But the 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of lowland Cerrado and semideciduous gallery forest surrounding Cantão are additionally essential for biodiversity, as they supply a vital habitat for Kaempfer’s woodpecker.
Home to a number of breeding pairs of woodpeckers, the park’s periphery offers a number of the most intact forest cowl out there for the species throughout its whole vary.
“Modern agriculture solely arrived on this area of Tocantins in 2013, and the closest farm is 250 kilometers [155 miles] away. So, this was a number of the most pristine Cerrado in all of Brazil,” Georgiadis mentioned.
But because the agricultural frontier quickly superior throughout the state, and the Araguaia Valley sat immediately within the path of this enlargement, Georgiadis and his group had been decided to guard the world — not only for Kaempfer’s woodpecker, but additionally for the opposite wildlife transferring between the rainforest and the savanna.
The Institute Araguaia group fought the 2019 wildfire tirelessly for almost three weeks. Image courtesy of George Georgiadis.
The state park solely granted safety to the seasonally flooded Amazon aspect of Cantão, however to not the Cerrado aspect, which was below non-public possession and extremely susceptible to agricultural conversion. In 2016, Georgiadis mentioned, following a survey by which they discovered Kaempfer’s woodpeckers within the Cerrado across the park, they realized they wanted to do one thing to spice up its safety. They discovered the land was speculated to be bought to a neighboring soy farm.
Creating government-protected areas in Brazil is time-consuming and tough, Georgiadis advised Mongabay. The preliminary prospects of reaching that for the outskirts of Cantão had been even slimmer in Tocatins, as a result of heavy paperwork and the excessive prices related to land acquisition in a state whose financial system is closely reliant on agricultural exports equivalent to soy.
Several worldwide conservation organizations stepped in to assist the Araguaia Institute. In 2017, after a yr of navigating the paperwork, the NGO received the state’s approval and raised sufficient funds to buy 190 hectares (470 acres) of Cerrado. Another yr later, the world formally turned the Canto Obrieni Reserve, the primary protected space for Kaempfer’s woodpecker, and gained Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) standing.
Purchasing non-public reserves is a crucial technique for conserving biodiversity within the Cerrado, based on Marcelo Gonçalves de Lima, a analysis fellow on the Center for Large Landscape Conservation.
“Currently, solely 8.61% of the 200 million hectares [494 million acres] within the Cerrado is legally protected throughout 482 areas, with 182 being small Private Natural Heritage Reserves,” he advised Mongabay. “While occupying lower than 0.06% of the biome, these reserves play a significant position in conserving [threatened] species just like the Kaempfer’s woodpecker.”
Threatened by wildfire
Although protected from growth, Canto Obrieni remained below risk from wildfires. In August 2019, a wildfire unfold from a neighboring farm, scorching a complete of two,000 hectares (almost 5,000 acres) of Cerrado. Believed to have began when a fisherman’s campfire received uncontrolled, the hearth grew, kindled by the savanna’s parched grass. Soon, the blaze was creeping nearer to Cantão State Park.
Instituto Araguaia’s employees suppress the embers within the wake of the 2019 wildfire. Image courtesy of George Georgiadis.
It took the Araguaia Institute group three weeks to place out the hearth.
“We had been exhausted, however we couldn’t afford to cease. We knew that if we didn’t management the hearth, your entire forest would burn down,” Telma Maria, a member of the institute and a volunteer firefighter, advised Mongabay.
Authorities didn’t reply instantly, though based on Georgiadis they claimed that the military had been despatched in to assist firefighting efforts.
“After about 10 days, we realized no assist was coming, so we used a drone to seize footage and ship it to a information channel,” Georgiadis mentioned. The video made the nationwide information, and the next day, state firefighters arrived.
Championing Cerrado conservation
In the years after the hearth, the Araguaia Institute has managed not solely to get better but additionally strengthen its conservation efforts in Cantão. In the Cerrado panorama across the state park, the NGO has created 4 extra reserves, totaling 595 hectares (1,470 acres), by getting into into leasing agreements with non-public landowners. Under Brazilian regulation, leasing habitat from landowners ensures the long-term safety of those areas as Private Natural Heritage Reserves, even after the land reverts to personal possession following a 10-year interval.
The new reserves type a community of interconnected habitat corridors that hyperlink the woodpecker reserve with the broader Cantão State Park. This connectivity not solely advantages Kaempfer’s woodpecker but additionally helps the survival of different at-risk Cerrado species, such because the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), in addition to Amazon species that transfer to the Cerrado throughout floods, equivalent to jaguars.
As the world stays susceptible to wildfires, the group has constructed a number of firebreaks across the protected areas and is usually monitoring a further 10,000 hectares (about 24,700 acres) of Cerrado that might doubtlessly develop into reserves sooner or later.
“Wildfires aren’t going to go away, so each dry season we put together. We’ve had a number of fires since 2019, however we’ve managed to deliver them below management,” Maria mentioned.
“Our conservation efforts for the woodpecker and the primary reserve have paved the way in which for all of the protected areas we handle as we speak and the biodiversity they assist,” Georgiadis mentioned. “For us, this chicken is the residing image of our work, and seeing it out within the forest is the final word reward.”
Banner picture: A view of the Canto Obrieni woodpecker Reserve. Image courtesy of George Georgiadis.
Citations:
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