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Volume 53, No. 2

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Assessment of the conservation status of the Fuegian Steamer Duck Tachyeres pteneres in Chile.


Authors

GONZALO MEDINA-VOGEL1*, GABRIELA MOLINA-MALDONADO2, CARLOS CALVO-MAC1, NICOLE DELGADO-PARADA2, VALERIA GÓMEZ-SILVA3,4, ELKE SCHÜTTLER3,4, BENJAMÍN SANTIBÁÑEZ-BÓRQUEZ5, JAIME R. RAU6, & JAIME A. CURSACH6

1Instituto One Health, Universidad Andres Bello, República 440, Santiago, Chile *(gmedina@unab.cl)
2Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 340, Santiago, Chile
3Centro Universitario Cabo de Hornos, Universidad de Magallanes, O'Higgins 310, Puerto Williams, Chile
4Cape Horn International Center (CHIC), O'Higgins 310, Puerto Williams, Chile
5Escuela de Ciencias Ambientales y Sustentabilidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, República 440, Santiago, Chile
6Laboratorio de Ecología, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Biodiversidad, Universidad de Los Lagos, Casilla 933, Osorno, Chile

Citation

Medina-Vogel, G., Molina-Maldonado, G., Calvo-Mac, C., Delgado-Parada, N., Gómez-Silva, V., Schüttler, E., Santibáñez-Bórquez, B., Rau, J. R., & Cursach, J. A. (2025). Assessment of the conservation status of the Fuegian Steamer Duck Tachyeres pteneres in Chile. Marine Ornithology 53(2), 401-408
http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.53.2.1663

Received 29 April 2025, accepted 29 July 2025

Date Published: 2025/10/15
Date Online: 2025/10/07
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Key words: census, ground-nesting waterbirds, Patagonia, quetru no-volador, threatened

Abstract

The Fuegian Steamer Duck Tachyeres pteneres is endemic to the southern cone of South America. Though classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, it is categorized as Near Threatened by the Chilean Ministry of Environment. However, few studies have been conducted on this species, and large portions of its distribution remain unsurveyed. This lack of information hinders a full appreciation of the species' conservation status under the IUCN criteria. We therefore conducted extensive surveys along the southern coast of Chile. Between March 2021 and April 2023, we carried out visual censuses at 40 sites (bays, channels, isles, and islets) covering 889 km of coast between Valdivia (40°S) and Caleta Tortel (48°S). Additionally, we surveyed two sites on Navarino Island (Cape Horn archipelago, 54°S) between November 2021 and January 2022. Finally, we compared populations in bays with and without off-bottom bivalve aquaculture in the Chiloé archipelago (43°S). We found variable abundances of Fuegian Steamer Ducks along the Chilean coast, ranging from 0.02 to 2.4 ducks/km, while in 15 sites out of 40 we did not record any individuals. Fuegian Steamer Ducks also occurred significantly more frequently in bays without aquaculture (2.6 ducks/km) than bays with aquaculture (1.8 ducks/km). Our findings represent a marked decline in the species' distribution along archipelagos and continental areas when comparing our results with published data collected more than 10 years ago.

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A map of the south america Description automatically generated

Fig. 1. Study area to monitor Fuegian Steamer Ducks along the southwestern margin of South America, Chile, divided into four subareas: (i) the northern continental area (Valdivia to Chiloé Island); (ii) the insular area (northeast to southeast Chiloé); (iii) the southern continental area (Tic Toc Bay to Caleta Tortel); and (iv) Navarino Island, Cape Horn. Survey sites with positive observations: 1. Estaquilla Point 2. Mari Mari Harbor, 3. Piedra Azul Cove, 4. Caulin Bay, 5. Chacao Bay, 6. Aituy Bay, 7. Quemchi Bay, 8. Queniao Point, 9. Caucahué Channel North, 10. Caucahué Channel South, 11. Tenaún Bay, 12. Rauco Bay, 13. Chonchi Bay, 14. Quehui Island Channel, 15. Huechapiao Point, 16. Ten-Ten Bay and Aitui Bay, 17. Queilen Point, 18. Yaldad Bay, 19. Quellón Port Bay, 20. Pilcomayo Channel, 21. Cailin Point, 22. Calliruca Point, 23. Tic Toc Port, 24. Navarino Island, 25. Navarino islets.

Fig. 2. Observation of Fuegian Steamer Duck families (A) and pairs (B) along the Chiloé archipelago (Subareas i and ii) and from a sailboat (C) near Aysén, Chile (Subarea iii). Photo credits: Gonzalo Medina-Vogel

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