Abstract
Cities represent novel environments in which birds must survive, but in many cases urban planners ignore the importance of urban vegetation, both for human well-being and for biodiversity. For these reasons, with an observational study of birds visiting an orange tree in a family garden, we recorded the species and the number of visits of each, to assess the main factors that determine the number of visits of birds. We recorded 29 species from 16 families visiting the orange tree during four months of observations. Parulidae and Icteridae were the most common families. 12 species were rare, 8 were occasional, 6 were frequent and 3 very frequent. Of the 29 species observed, 11 were observed perching and 18 were observed foraging. The most important trophic guild was the invertivores, represented by 14 species, followed by the omnivores with 10, the frugivores and granivores with two each. Body mass ranged from 3 to 183 gr. 18 species were resident and 11 were migratory. While there was no single parameter that explained the visiting pattern observed in the orange tree, weight, origin and use can be good indicators of the possible species that visit this tree. In addition, the characteristics of the site may also play a role. Although our study is small, it offers detailed insight into bird visiting patterns to a single tree within the urban landscape of a Neotropical city. Future studies should aim to increase the number of observation points throughout the city, especially in family gardens.