Comparison of Bird Diversity Reported at an eBird Hotspot and Banding Station in an Urban Natural Area Park in Nashville, Tennessee

Abstract

Abstract Citizen science portals are increasingly used to record observations of a variety of species. eBird is a commonly used tool to record bird sightings by citizen scientists, professional scientists, and naturalists. Data from eBird were used to compare the diversity of birds reported by citizen scientists to the diversity of birds banded by naturalists in the same area. The Warner Parks in Nashville, Tennessee have both a public and banding eBird hotspot in close proximity. Data from the public hotspot (=observed) and the banding station (=banded) from May 2008-2018 were obtained from eBird. Diversity of the birds reported from the two hotspots was compared by looking at species richness, diversity indices, and family occurrences. During this period, 15,622 birds were observed (140 species), while 9,099 birds (87 species) were banded. Diversity was greatest among the observed community, with 58.74% of the species occurring in both the observed and banded datasets. The most commonly banded and observed families were the Paridae, Turdidae, and Cardinalidae. Citizen science data captured the broadest range of diversity. Banding data may not reflect the full diversity of birds in an area unless a variety of banding techniques are intentionally employed. Together, these data reinforce the importance of the Warner Parks as an important bird habitat in an urban natural area park.