The observation of birds as informative tools to develop citizen science: Contributions of a 10-year record in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico

This article analyses historical data from observations made to birds in breeding, throughout two routes with urban characteristics and during a consecutive period of 10 years (2009-2018), following a precise methodology designed by the North American Breeding Bird Survey. The analyzed routes are officially registered in the Mexican Commission for Biodiversity’s Knowledge and Use, the United States Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, and the Canadian Wildlife Service Research Centre. The observations were made by citizens without formal professional education; hence the results may be considered within the framework of citizen science. Their contributions provided important data for decision-making regarding environmental issues, since the presence of birds is considered one of the main indicators on health conditions of an ecosystem. Data analysis identified two basic conditions: (i) a reduction of the 23% in the number of species found, as many of them disappeared during counting; and (ii) the significant increase in population of other species, three of pigeons among them. Apart from the study of bird behavior in the routes with urban characteristics, the article acknowledges the lack of connection and use of the information produced from monitoring for decision-making and education regarding environmental issues. Therefore, we consider crucial to create scientific observatories, both available to experts in the field and to the general population, as the ultimate purpose would be the production of citizen science.

and periodically, to report the influence of birds in a specific location [13]. An example of this is 91 the Sitio Ramsar Vado de Meoqui, a town located in the state of Chihuahua, which is considered 92 a protected area under an international environmental agreement that enforces the conservation 93 and rational use of the wetlands through local, regional and national actions for contributing to 94 sustainable development in the world [14]. These are transcendental remarks, since the mentioned 95 town is located within an urban area, which has a record of serious damages in its ecology, due to 96 inappropriate urban planning and human activities that produce waste and contamination [15]. 97 In the context of a primarily urban modern society, 74.2% of the Mexican population lives 98 in cities of more than 15 thousand inhabitants [16]. Under such conditions, it is compulsory to 99 raise awareness and to re-educate people regarding sustainable development, by carrying out 100 activities such as the systematic and participative observation of the ecological dynamics in 101 populations such as birds. 102 Within the actions based on systematic methodologies for birdwatching, it is expected that 103 observers who start these activities as a pastime, to eventually perform them in a more constant 104 and formal way. An example of this is quoted in the report that documents the observation of birds Another important feature of birdwatching is their bond with the tourist activity, for 136 instance, this type of activity in Cuba has gone from an initial extractive approach to a relatively 137 innocuous activity for birds, and it has turned into an important economic activity; however, this 138 country does not have a record of the impact caused by tourism to birdwatching [31]. In the state 139 of Oaxaca (Mexico), birdwatching is an ecotouristim activity offered by people or companies to 140 tourists mainly from the United States and Canada [32]. As a result, the development of formal 141 training programs for touristic guides has been proposed, for making such activities The beginning of each record in the routes was established between 5:00 and 5:30 am, and 178 the monitoring points were marked with a physical description and their GPS coordinates. Also, it 179 is common to place signals and visible marks for an easy identification of the stops every year.

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Before, during, and at the end of each tracking, the climatological conditions (temperature, wind 181 speed, and cloudiness) are recorded. The monitoring was made every year within the period of 182 May-July, when the breeding season starts and migratory species have already travelled to their 183 nesting places.

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The protocol for marking the routes consisted of establishing 50 points of observation 185 separated from each other every 800 meters and geographically located by their physical 186 description and GPS coordinates. At each point, a chronometer was used to measure a period of 187 three minutes and an approximate radius of 400 meters was monitored to record all the bird species 188 observed and heard. This protocol was repeated annually, starting in the same point and at the 189 same hour, to maintain uniformity in sampling conditions.

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The descriptive analysis of the species found was made from global data of both routes 193 observed, with its corresponding correlations; using tables and graphics by route, which show the 194 increase and decrease of species, as well as an analysis by number of species. During the 10-year 195 period, a total of 139 species were identified and observed in both routes, Table 1   From the data shown in Table 1, it was possible to graphically represent species' behavior 202 in both routes. Hence, Figure 2 shows a continuous increase in the total observations, except for 203 the years 2010 and 2016; a period in which the results were more representative in terms of growth. The Pearson correlation, taking into account both routes and between the variables 'year' 213 and 'total sightings', was of r=.569. This indicates a low correlation level. However, the 214 significance was of .009, which corresponds to a high significance (see Table 2). At the moment of analyzing the data by route, we observed a similar behavior regarding 218 the increase of the total number of sightings per year (see Figure 4).  Table 3.  .013

Santa Mónica
Total sightings N 10 10 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).  Table 4 shows the behavior of the species 232 divided by route. In the cases where the correlation value is negative, it means that species 233 decreased in their numbers and vice versa.

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Although there are species that underwent relevant changes in only one of the routes, in 235 the majority of the cases such changes happened in both routes. The species whose common names 236 in English show a '*' at the beginning indicate that they were identified in the monitoring, but they 237 were not included in the initial observation lists. Such treatment is maintained throughout this 238 paper. showed an increase. In Santa Mónica, eight species decreased and 16 increased (see Table 5).

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In this section, we present the analysis of the changes in the sightings of species, starting Condition: This bird is from coast areas. Hence, it is not common in this zone, but some 302 individuals were observed, perhaps because they were moving between coasts. Similar to the 303 species described above, they were not seen after 2013. According to the data gathered of the four pigeon species, a correlation analysis was carried 362 out to identify significance and correlation values in all the cases, as

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Regarding the sparrow species, they are coming closer and are identified more frequently 369 in urban and semi urban areas, as they might be escaping from their natural predators, and they are 370 feeding from the amount of waste produced in the cities, parks and gardens. The three species of 371 sparrows that increased are (see Figure 18):

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Condition: This species has currently increased, probably due to the presence of insects coming 408 from the agricultural activities within the monitoring areas (see Figure 21).  and climatological conditions (see Table 7).  Table 7. Correlations between species and climatological conditions

Species Climatological conditions
Says poheby It is observed more easily with low temperatures and cloudy skies.
Ash-throat flycatcher It is observed in the morning, with more frequency when the temperature is high and the wind is low. Couch's kingbird Positive correlation with the windy conditions of the sky.
Blue grosbeak Direct positive correlation with temperature.
Western meadowlark Negative correlation between temperature at the end of the route and positive correlation with the rate of windy sky. White-tailed kite Negative correlation between sightings and wind speed. Natural Resources [39].

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The frequency of sightings has increased for some species thanks to the insects linked with