Identification of birds in Karaj city with emphasis on the management of harmful species

Abstract

Introduction: Increase in urbanization has resulted in residency and adaptability of birds to
this habitat and high population of birds inhabit urban areas. These areas play an important
role in conservation of local biodiversity, rare and threatened species. Their presence is not
without harm and problem for residence and urban managers. These birds in high density
make loud noises and disrupt mental health of residents and break the silence needed for
calmness of humans. They make their nests on the chimneys and block them, which threatens
life of humans. There are gatherings of their feces in parks and green spaces, and on
buildings, vehicles that lower the beauty of scenes in these areas and makes problem for the
owner of properties. These undesirable impacts make the humans call some species of the
birds harmful.
Materials & Methods: In this research, birds of Karaj city were identified and their
frequency and distribution were recorded in summer and autumn of 2020 by field surveying.
Our aim was to identify harmful birds. All the field surveys were carried out by the same
person to lower the individual error and increase the reliability of results.
Result: As a result, 72 species of birds belonging to 15 orders and 33 families were observed.
Passeriformes had the highest number of species with 45 species. This study indicated that
rock dove, laughing dove, rook, hooded crow, house sparrow and common starling were the
harmful birds, which brought hygiene, economical and psychological problems for residents.
There were 20 bird species present in Halghe-Darreh Landfill. Results of Kernel density
function indicated the areas with high density of these harmful birds. All the methods were
evaluated based on their applicability in the country. The most usable methods for the
country were identified.
Conclusion: Different approaches to controlling the bird population were investigated and
the most efficient ones were physical barriers, sterilization and making habitat unsuitable by
applying physical, chemical and biological techniques.