I doubt it would come as a surprise to many people that the more green space there is in an urban area, the more diversity you will find in the bird species that space supports. However, it’s always good to have evidence to prove this and a new study from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology provides this evidence. Their study focuses on parks in New York City and uses observations from citizen-scientists from 2002 through 2019 to estimate the variety of species found on an annual and seasonal basis. They found that increasing the area of green space by 50% would result in an 11.5% increase in annual and an 8.2% increase in seasonal species diversity. They also found that a 50% increase in tree canopy cover would result in a 23.3% increase in species diversity. Hopefully, this sort of ecological data from citizen scientists will not only help to protect urban green spaces in America but also in the UK, providing evidence that if you green it, they will come.
A good example of a species that has traditionally been a woodland bird, but is now increasingly associated with human habitats is the dunnock. They mainly feed on insects but can be found visiting bird tables and feeders during winter and early spring.
This image of a dunnock was captured back in February on the local patch near my office – the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow. I was watching it as it flitted out from the cover of the bushes to investigate one of the feeders in the park, which is what it is looking up at in this photograph. Despite them being quite shy birds, I had been noticing the dunnocks more frequently on my walks through the park last winter. They may look quite drab at first glance, but when you look closely their plumage is quite striking – particularly around their eyes. They also have a quite pretty, warbling song and will often sing from a low perch – on one of my strolls a dunnock began singing in the bushes just above my head! They may be unremarkable to look at, but I think they’re a beautiful addition to our gardens and urban green spaces.