Are birds more afraid in urban parks or cemeteries? A Latin American study contrasts with results from Europe

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically altered human activities, potentially relieving human pressures on urban-dwelling animals. Here, we evaluated whether birds from five cities in five countries (Czech Republic - Prague, Finland - Rovaniemi, Hungary - Budapest, Poland - Poznan, and Australia - Melbourne) changed their tolerance towards human presence (measured as flight initiation distance) during the COVID-19 shutdowns. We collected 6369 flight initiation distance estimates for 147 bird species and found that birds tolerated approaching humans to a similar level before and during the COVID-19 shutdowns. Moreover, during the shutdowns, bird escape behaviour did not consistently change with the level of governmental restrictions (measured as the stringency index). Hence, our results indicate that birds do not flexibly and quickly adjust their escape behaviour to the reduced human presence; in other words, the breeding populations of urban birds examined might already be tolerant of human activity and perceive humans as relatively harmless.

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Are birds more afraid in urban parks or cemeteries? A Latin American study contrasts with results from Europe

Cited by 6 publications

References 71 publications

Flight initiation distance in waterbirds of two coastal wetlands with different protection regimes

Flight initiation distance in waterbirds of two coastal wetlands with different protection regimes

Bird species present in urban parks are more colorful than urban avoiders: A test in the Argentinian Pampas

Urban birds’ tolerance towards humans was largely unaffected by increased variation in human levels due to COVID-19 shutdowns

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