Ornithology in the sights of the School of Biology

On July 14, the presentation "Citizen Science With bird And The Conservation Of Birds ", provided by Viviana Ruíz Gutiérrez, member of the ornithology laboratory at Cornell University, United States.

Campus asked the professor at the UDA School of Biology Boris Tinoco how the idea of ​​this talk was born, the first of a series of four in the cycle "Ornithology from different perspectives".

At the end of this month we had planned to organize the VII Ecuadorian Ornithology Meeting (REO) at the Universidad del Azuay, an event that brings together scientists, guides and birdwatchers every two years, but this was frustrated due to the pandemic, although we have the intention to organize it in 2021.

However, we wanted to maintain communication and contact with people interested in research and observation of birds, and with this intention, this cycle of master talks and talks was organized.

The event takes place on Tuesdays in four continuous weeks. We have the participation of top-level scientists who work in universities in the United States, Europe, Latin America and of course Ecuador.

We have planned topics of general interest, hoping to have the attention of a diverse group of people. For example, on the last day of the event, on August 4, Juan Freile, representative of the Aves Ecuador collective, will be presenting the results of the Ecuadorian census of birdwatchers, which was conducted in recent months.

It will be super interesting to know how many people in Ecuador participate in bird watching.

Besides the two universities involved, the Universidad del Azuay and the San Francisco de Quito, are there other organizers?

The Ecuadorian Ornithological Meeting is a very diverse space, which brings together actors from the Academy, conservation organizations, bird tourism companies, and groups of observers.

For this reason, the organizing committee is also diverse: Aves y Conservación is an NGO focused on bird research and conservation, Nature Experience is a company specialized in nature tourism, and the Aves Ecuador Network is a group of people interested in research and bird watching.

In your words, what is the reason behind the fascination with ornithology?

The interest and fascination in ornithology is equally varied.

As a scientist, birds have been classic models of study in ecology and evolution, and as an example we can give Darwin, who used data from the distribution of bird species in the Galapagos Islands as an important basis to discuss his evolutionary theory by natural selection. 

There is also the interest of bird watchers, who simply seek to observe and listen to a bird in order to identify it.

Ecuador, with more than 1600 species of birds, is a privileged place for birdwatching, and there are more and more tourists and local people practicing this activity recreationally.

Birds with extravagant colors, complex songs and peculiar behaviors are present throughout Ecuador, and this has influenced the fact that there are more and more people seeking to observe and collect the record of new species.