Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 85 (4): 469-480, 2012
REVIEW ARTICLE
State of the art of the knowledge of Chilean raptor birds: Present situation and future
projections
Increasing global interest for studying birds of prey has lead to the need to identify
research priorities to better focus conservation efforts. In Chile, studies on raptors date back to 1891, and the number of publications
has considerably increased in the last decades. To our knowledge, however, analysis on information gaps and research priorities is
lacking. Based on the published information from 1970 and 2011, we assessed the current state of knowledge for Chilean raptors to
identify the topics where information is absent or is insufficient and to determine what information is a research priority. We analyzed
the information according to species, species groups (diurnal and nocturnal), research topics and geographical area where the studies
were conducted. We found that the number of papers increased linearly with time, but the tendency was strongly biased toward only
two species (Tyto alba, Geranoaetus polyosoma). Most studies focused on diet and were with an interest
more pronounced towards nocturnal than diurnal raptors. The remainder of topics was only moderately or poorly studied. The least
studied raptors were migrant species (Buteo swainsoni, Pandion haliaetus, Circus buffoni),
forest specialists (Strix rufipes, Accipiter bicolor, Buteo ventralis and B.
albigula) and members of the genus Phalcoboenus, most of which have some conservation problem. The
number of studies by geographical area was similar between diurnal and nocturnal raptors. Remarkably, a high proportion of studies
concentrated in the Metropolitan Region of Chile. We conclude that research must be focused on (a) poorly studied and threatened
species, (b) scarcely studied topics such as migration, population density, taxonomy, management, parasites and use and selection
habitat, and (c) species inhabiting remote islands, fragmented or humanmodified landscapes, and heavily populated
areas.
Key words:
birds of prey, Chile,
conservation, research priorities, threatened species.
