List of birds in the Municipality of Santos – SP Sandra Regina Pardini Pivelli

Abstract

Birds are considered environmental indicators because they have characteristics such as distinct behavior, known identification, wealth of information about the group and great sensitivity to disturbances. The present work aimed to analyze data from twelve bird surveys in the city of Santos, carried out mainly in the island area of ​​the municipality from 1996 to 2010, adding observations carried out from 2011 to 2016. The method used was the transect, with occasional stops for better identification of some of the species. 272 species belonging to 27 orders, 68 families and 224 genera were recorded. The families with the largest number of species are Tyrannidae, Thraupidae, Ardeidae, Trochilidae, Accipitridae and Thamnophilidae. The State of São Paulo has around 680 species. Approximately 40% of these occur in our municipality. However, due to constant environmental changes in the city caused mainly by the increase in civil and retroport construction, and consequent tree and forest suppression, we have twenty-one species threatened with extinction and five almost threatened according to the São Paulo State Government's list. This study brought important information to urban planning, considering bird conservation as knowledge to be integrated into municipal management. Thus, based on this inventory, the “One Hundred Birds of Santos” project was developed, implementing informative plaques on 37% of the species, enabling the construction of an observation tower in the Santos Botanical Garden in 2015 and creating a circuit of suggested locations for the bird sighting in 2016 on an internet portal. The publication of part of the list in the Official Gazette of the Municipality was also made in August of the same year. Such actions enable instruments to be used in decision-making, changing attitudes and reversing the threat of extinction.