Swallows and sparrows in the human street-market interface of urban Nepal: Towards a first open access gis data and model inference on the role of religion and culture in bird distribution

Abstract

Birds are widely described as powerful environmental health indicators. In Nepal, 15% of the naturally occurring bird species are nationally threatened due to human-caused habitat alteration, largely because of urbanization. However, little research and data are available allowing for science-based conservation such as species distribution models and richness/evenness calculations for birds living in urban spaces. In Nepal, the large majority of people follow Hindu or Buddhist traditions, and culturally many people see birds and other animals as spiritually divine and deserving of respect and welcoming. It is therefore common for shop owners to encourage birds to visit shops in the mornings via the spreading of birdseed, and it is customary to leave alone any nests birds have built inside of shops, religious sites, restaurants, homes and the living quarters. With first explorations in 2014 and 2015 we conducted during May and June 2016 and 2017 a rapid assessment street study of avian species roosting and nesting in and around shops and restaurants in urban centers, monasteries and religious sites in Nepal. Georeferenced avian point counts with photos, vegetation/urbanization assessments, and nest detection surveys were conducted within Kathmandu, Pokhara, and smaller mountain villages in Nepal. This was done in order to assess and describe the level of urbanization preferred by different functional groups of birds, and to determine whether birds and nests would be found in a shop and restaurant given the urbanization level of the surroundings and the religious background of the business and property owner. Our Urban ecology study closely focuses on distribution and population numbers of urban-associated species, including swallows, sparrows, pigeons, parrots and kites. We used opportunistic but representative point counts and nest surveys to provide first open access data on the effect of urbanization on generalist bird diversity. The GIS layers are the first of their kind but are globally available for most cities. Data mining and machine learning algorithms are used here to predict and extrapolate the effect of religious affiliation and urban variables on bird nest acceptance, distribution, population spread and nesting habits of avian species. This study creates the first open access and open source geographic information systems (GIS) database of bird species nesting and roosting in urban spaces within Nepal to inform and advise future management and research decisions. We promote it as a study template and rapid assessment method for urban birds worldwide for a better avian and habitat management.