One hundred and thirty-five years of avifaunal surveys around Santarém, central Brazilian amazon

We present an updated annotated avifaunal checklist for the Santarem region of central Para state, Brazil, an area that has one of the oldest histories of ornithologicalexploration in South America. We combine data from a five-month quantitative survey of the birds of the municipalities of Santarem and Belterra (east of the Tapajos River) between 2010 and 2011 with an exhaustive search of material in museum collections worldwide and digital vouchersdeposited online. Our own survey sampledhabitats across a gradient of disturbance ranging from 'undisturbed' primary forest, through logged and burnt forest, patches of secondary forest, cattle pastures and intensive mechanized agriculture. Given the potential for species misidentifications in avian inventories, we paid special attention to obtaining voucherdocumentation. Here we present a collection of publicly accessible digital vouchersfor all of the new species, in addition to providing museum catalogue numbers for all old records. We added 24 species to the regional list, principally species associated with anthropogenic land-uses, but also including seven species restricted to primary forest habitats which were missed from both recent published inventories and over the course of two centuries of intensive collecting efforts. The regional list now stands at 583 species for which voucherdocumentation is available, with an additional 26 undocumented species. Many of the species reported here are poorly known or represent notable range extensions, and we present new data on their status and distribution.