The Bare-Faced Curassow (Crax fasciolata) in the Northern Pantanal

For the majority of tropical birds, basic life history information is still missing and holds mostly for tropical forest species. Among these are the members of guans, chachalacas, and curassows, a New World avian family known as cracids. In our study, conducted in a protected area in the northeastern Pantanal of Brazil, where human impacts were low, we investigated the seasonal activity, social organization, and sex ratio of the Bare-faced Curassow using camera traps. Strong seasonal inundation pulses are characteristic of the study area and influence vegetation, resource, and water seasonality, causing differences in seasonal activity behavior patterns. The daily activity of the Bare-faced Curassow differed between forest- and savanna-dominated areas but did not differ by sex, seasonal period, or presence of offspring. Such population studies in protected areas may serve as a “template” to plan more appropriate conservation and area management strategies that are applicable locally and beyond.