Identification of birds by application and its applications in environmental education

Abstract

Bird watching is a recreational activity that allows man to reconnect with nature. In addition to the contemplative and leisure benefits, this act can be a tool to promote environmental education. In order to use bird watching for environmental education, a cell phone application was used to identify birds in the Córrego do Cumandaí Municipal Natural Park, which is a conservation area within the city of Naviraí, Mato Grosso do Sul. Therefore, photographic records of bird sightings between 2017 and 2021 were used, provided by the municipal environment management, in addition to 12 visits to the park, in the period from march to july 2021. For the identification of birds, the application was used Merlin ID and Wikiaves database data. This act resulted in 51 identified bird species, divided into 14 orders and 23 families. The Simpson index = 0.7781, Pielou = 0.7488 and Shannon = 1.9762 were measured, which indicate the ideal park for the development of observation activities, considering its location and dimension. In addition to being a useful tool for environmental education, bird watching can contribute to scientific and socio-environmental literacy through citizen science, but it is necessary to have standardized scripts and methodologies defined by the park management so that these data are validated for visitors who want to contribute to science and the conservation of protected areas.