Habitats: Atlantic Rainforest

The Atlantic Forest or "Mata Atlantica“ stretches along the Atlantic coast of Brazil and inland to eastern Paraguay, the province of Misiones in northeastern Argentina, and into Uruguay. The biodiversity of the Atlantic Rainforest is very high. However, it is estimated that it is just 7% of the size that it was 500 years ago. It once covered 1.23 million km2, today just 99 thousand km2 remain. Many species of plant and animal are endangered or under threat in the Atlantic Forest. Amongst the Picidae, the often ellusive Helmeted Woodpecker Dryocopus galeatus, which occurs very locally in eastern Paraguay, north-east Argentina and south-east Brazil, is an example. This species has suffered badly from the felling of forests and is now classified as vulnerable.