" Indicator" species of natural habitat quality are potentially useful tools for managers of biodiversity (Rohlf 1991). Predators are often considered indicators because they are at the top of food webs and need wide home-range areas to function. Predators play an important role in ecosystems because they can determine the community structure patterns of their prey (Menge et al. 1994). In addition, predators, including facultative scavengers, have been used as" umbrella" species in world conservation strategies because their protection may facilitate the conservation of great portions of unaltered habitats (Simberloff 1987). Raptors, here defined to include New World vultures, Falconiformes, and Strigiformes, have been considered good indicators of habitat quality because of their sensitivity to human disturbance and environmental contami-nation (Newton 1979; Taylor 1984). Population declines of some raptor species indicate dysfunctional ecosystems because population dynamics of top-order predators often reflect the nature of the ecosystems they in-habit (Newton 1979; Greene 1988; Olendorff et al. 1989; Bumham et al. 1990; Terborgh 1992). Thus, it has been recommended that raptors should be included in the management and conservation plans of any region, especially for threatened habitats (Olendorff et al. 1989; Burmham et al. 1990). The use of raptors as indicator species has been particularly advocated for tropical for-ests (Thiollay 1989, 1996). Their role as indicators of habitat naturalness in Neotropical areas, however, remains controversial.