Atividade vocal da espécie Pulsatrix perspicillata (Latham, 1790) em fragmentos florestais da serra de Baturité

Abstract

Owls, belonging to the order Strigiformes, composed of the families Strigidae and Tytonidae, are considered birds of prey, benefiting humans by contributing to the ecological balance. One of the owl species that most attracts the attention of scientists and bird lovers is the murucutu, Pulsatrix perspicillata, which can be found almost everywhere in Brazil, but in low densities, and only easily heard in forest environments. Some traditional monitoring methods have limitations for nocturnal species such as Pulsatrix perspicillata. Thus, one of the ways for nocturnal monitoring is through passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), which is a non-invasive technique that uses the recording of vocalizations emitted by the animals during their activities through digital recorders, followed by a careful analysis of the vocalizations and anthropic environmental sound recordings. The present research aimed to analyze behavioral patterns of Pulsatrix perspicillata, by means of acoustic data, from populations of the species living in private forest fragments, located in the municipality of Guaramiranga, in the micro-region of Serra de Baturité, as well as to better understand the benefits and effectiveness of the method applied. A total of 3,600 hours of recording were obtained, with 15 records of Pulsatrix perspicillata. The forest fragment with the highest number of records was the REVIS Periquito Cara Suja with a total of 5 records. It was also possible to observe that the females used to vocalize in duets throughout the year, and the species did not show a preference for nocturnal light caused by the phases of the moon for its vocalization activity. Finally, this research was able to demonstrate the efficiency of the MAP method in collecting data over an extensive sampling period and at several sampling points, avoiding the need for constant field trips, contributing to greater safety for the researcher.