Symposium Participants
Gary Stiles
Instituto de Ciencias Naturales
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Bogotá D.C., Colombia
Phone: 57.1.316.5000 ext. 11511
Fax: 57.1.316.5365
Austral Migration in Colombia: The State of Knowledge, and Suggestions for Action
Abstract
Compared to boreal migration, austral migration has been little studied in Colombia. This reflects differences between the migration systems in the size and diversity of source areas of migrant avifaunas, distributions of migrants vs. potential observers, funding opportunities and taxonomic affinities relative to tropical residents.
I present a brief review of the state of knowledge of austral migration in Colombia, illustrated with two examples, to highlight the many unanswered questions regarding austral migration in general. International cooperation will be the key to answering these questions, for which the source countries of southern South America are best situated to take the lead.
Key Words
austral migration, Colombia, monitoring, Neotropical birds, South America.
Resumen
Migración austral en Colombia: el estado de conocimiento y sugerencias sobre cómo proceder. – Comparada con la migración boreal, la migración austral ha sido poco estudiada en Colombia. Esta situación refleja diferencias entre los tamaños y diversidades de las áreas “fuentes” de las aves migratorias, distribuciones de aves migratorias vs. las de observadores potenciales, oportunidades para financiación y afinidades taxonómicas con relación a los residentes tropicales. Presento una reseña breve del estado de conocimiento de la migración austral en Colombia, ilustrado con dos ejemplos que muestran las muchas preguntas todavía sin contestar sobre la migración austral en general. Para contestar estas preguntas será necesario la cooperación internacional, para la cual los países “fuente” del sur de Sudamérica están mejor situados para tomar la delantera.
Introduction
Colombia, in the northwestern corner of South America, is at the crossroads of the two great migration systems of the New World, receiving postbreeding migrants from the higher latitudes of both northern and southern hemispheres. Southwards and eastwards from Colombia in South America, austral migrants predominate, but few of these cross the northern Andes or reach Middle or North America (Stiles & Skutch 1989, A.O.U. 1998). From the Eastern Andes westwards and northwards boreal migrants are prominent, but relatively few species extend in appreciable numbers into or beyond the Amazon basin. Effectively, Colombia is the gateway to South America for boreal migrants arriving via Central America and many of those crossing the Caribbean, but it is the end of the line (or the back door) for austral migrants.
References
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