Catalogue of the bird of Barrio Centro (Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina) during the non-breeding season.

Abstract

The conservation of biodiversity requires the knowledge of different habitats and the wild species that inhabit them. Knowing the ornithological diversity of cities allows preserving not only species that inhabit them but also their environment. The aim of this research is to present a preliminary richness inventory of birds that visit and inhabit the urban green spaces (UGS) of the downtown neighborhood of Luján city (Buenos Aires province) during winter. The fixed-radius point count method was used, standing 10 minutes in each point recording the observed species. Twenty eight point counts were placed within the eleven UGS and each point count was surveyed four times. Twenty nine species were recorded, distributed in 8 orders and 20 families. The most represented families were: Columbidae (5 species), Furnariidae (2 species), Tyrannidae (2 species), Turdidae (2 species) and Thraupidae (2 species). The most frequent species were: Milvago chimango, Zenaida auriculata, Furnarius rufus, Pitangus sulphhuratus, Turdus rufiventris, Mimus saturninus and Passer domesticus. Three exotic species were recorded: P. domesticus, Sturnus vulgaris and Columba livia. Greatest species richness and frequency were given at the largest urban green spaces. It is important to preserve cities large urban green spaces and to develop annual updates of bird species inventory through systematic monitoring programs. This way, collected data can be used as an indicator of urban ecosystems quality.