Biota from the coastal wetlands of Praia da Vitória (Terceira, Azores, Portugal): Part 3 - Birds.

Sofia Goulart,João Barreiros,Elisabete Nogueira,Paulo Borges,Mariana Brito,Sónia Santos,César Pimentel

doi:10.3897/bdj.7.e34327

Abstract

BackgroundThe data presented here come from field observations of Aves between August 2013 and October 2018 as part of a LIFE research project aiming to preserve and restore three coastal wetlands from Praia da Vitória (Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal). Systematic monthly observations were carried out for five years in order to provide a checklist and monitoring of bird species and subspecies observed in three sites: Paul da Praia da Vitória (PPV), Paul do Belo Jardim (PBJ) and Paul da Pedreira do Cabo da Praia (PPCP). Main objectives were to determine their ornithological richness while also adding data to the overall knowledge of Azorean Avifauna and to monitor seasonal and between-year variation on species abundance.New informationDuring a five-year observation period (2013-2018), a total of 82,985 birds belonging to 108 species/subspecies were observed. From this, 16,663 were in PPV, 11,793 from PBJ and 54,529 from PPCP. The total richness was 55, 40 and 85, respectively. Three species are first records for the Azores: Aythya americana (Eyton, 1838); Chlidonias leucopterus (Temminck, 1815) and Tringa brevipes (Vieillot, 1816). One species is a new record for Terceira Island: Lophodytes cucullatus (Linnaeus, 1758).

Highlights

One species is a new record for Terceira Island: Lophodytes cucullatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
The Azorean Avifauna has been described in several publications, the most recent being Rodrigues et al (2010), Rodebrand (2012) and Barcelos et al (2015)
Three coastal wetlands from the municipality of Praia da Vitória (Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal) - Paul da Praia da Vitória (PPV), Paul do Belo Jardim (PBJ) and Paul da Pedreira do Cabo da Praia (PPCP) – were studied during the LIFE – Coastal Wetlands Restoration Project and are known as a high avifauna site attracting birdwatchers and which include an important number of species (Dias et al 1991, Morton et al 1997, Morton et al 1998, Melo and Dias 2005, Pereira and Melo 2017)

Summary

Background

The data presented here come from field observations of Aves between August 2013 and October 2018 as part of a LIFE research project aiming to preserve and restore three coastal wetlands from Praia da Vitória (Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal). Systematic monthly observations were carried out for five years in order to provide a checklist and monitoring of bird species and subspecies observed in three sites: Paul da Praia da Vitória (PPV), Paul do Belo Jardim (PBJ) and Paul da Pedreira do Cabo da Praia (PPCP). Main objectives were to determine their ornithological richness while adding data to the overall knowledge of Azorean Avifauna and to monitor seasonal and between-year variation on species abundance. During a five-year observation period (2013-2018), a total of 82,985 birds belonging to 108 species/subspecies were observed.

Introduction

Findings

Sampling methods