Birds and small urban parks: a study in a high plateau city

The goal of the present study was to assess which variables influence the distribution of birds in urban parks. Twenty parks were studied in a city on the Spanish high plateau during the breeding season, and relationships among park characteristics, bird richness, and individual bird presences were established. The park area and tree cover accounted for 73.1% of the variation in bird richness. Although area size was the best predictor of species richness (65% of the variation), some species did not seem to be related to this variable but rather to others, such as vegetation and the degree of park isolation with respect to other areas. Contrary to what is normally expected, the distance from our parks to the river did not influence their bird species richness.