Resumen

CASTILLO-MUNOZ, Marilyn  y  GUZMAN-HERNANDEZ, Jorge Leonardo. Composition and structure of the bird community in an urban riparian corridor of the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Huitzil [online]. 2021, vol.22, n.2, e628.  Epub 24-Oct-2022. ISSN 1870-7459.  https://doi.org/10.28947/hrmo.2021.22.2.499.

Riparian corridors provide habitat for many bird species in urban areas, although they have been little studied in northeastern Mexico. In this study we evaluated the structure and composition of the avian community of La Silla River in Monterrey, Nuevo León. Between February 2018 and January 2020, we performed monthly surveys, employing 11-12 variable-radius point counts in each of three sites: El Realito, Tolteca-Riberas and Cortijo. We registered a total of 152 bird species: 85 residents, 60 migratory, and 7 occasional. The majority of species had low abundance, with only 7 common or abundant species. The avian families with greatest species richness were Tyrannidae (18 species), Parulidae (17 spp) and Accipitridae (10 spp), while the best represented feeding guilds were insectivores, carnivores and piscivores. We registered 16 threatened species, including 4 psittacine species at risk nationally and internationally. We also report breeding activity of Tricolored Heron, Egretta tricolor, and the Little Blue Heron, E. caerulea, in this urban riparian corridor. The Cortijo site that was mainly urban and with constant anthropogenic activity, had significantly lower bird abundance and least similarity in avian community compared with the other two sites of La Silla River. Furthermore, highest species richness was recorded in El Realito (129 spp), followed by Tolteca-Riberas (102 spp) and Cortijo (82 spp). Our results demonstrate the importance of this urban riparian corridor for resident and migratory birds in this metropolis of northeastern Mexico.

Palabras llave : bird inventory; northeastern Mexico; riparian corridor; species richness; urban ecology.

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