Preface

*"While there are many ways how we humans are letting the numbers of bird individuals and species diminish, there is also a lot we could and should do to halt this trend and preserve avian diversity."* 

*Dieter Thomas Tietze, 2018*.

Birds are among the best known and studied organisms and were the first taxonomic animal group used to identify biogeographic regions, and that work continues in the most biodiverse regions on earth [1]. The popularity of birds to the public has facilitated the development of digitally accessible databases combining observations often made by non-academic birders in their local areas [2]. Freely accessible bird occurrence and ringing data explain why scientists have often been able to make sophisticated species distribution models, which have been frequently used for better conservation plans [3].

The soaring popularity of bird watching is a fast-growing hobby for millions of people across the globe. As mundane as it seems to many, it is a real passion for others. Almost 60 million Americans identify themselves as birdwatchers, whereas only 24 million Americans play basketball, 23 million play baseball, and 9 million play American football [4].

Birdwatching is an extremely healthy hobby because one is moving outside, likely reading and learning, and preferably taking notes, drawing, and imitating sounds that birds make. This engages your entire brain and keeps it healthy [5].

During the Coronavirus pandemic birdwatching gained more popularity when people experiencing lockdown looked outside and began to appreciate the colourful wildlife their windows framed, especially birds [6]. The traffic of the Audubon society website spiked 23% in March and April 2020, compared to the year prior, and one Chicago bird-related Facebook group grow 134% during the same months [6].

After this pandemic, an increasing number of birdwatchers will again be traveling to long-haul destinations to seek new bird species that cannot be seen in their own country or region. To benefit from this growing market, however, developing countries have to provide what birdwatchers demand, including safety, accessibility, infrastructure, quality of bird life, and knowledgeable guides [7].

In the United Kingdom birdwatching expenditures are estimated at 500 million USD per year. Spending of birders varies, naturally, depending on whether they participate in their hobby at or near home, within their home country, or internationally. It has been concluded that birders and other wildlife specialists spend more money than generalists, and ecotourism including birdwatching can be more lucrative for a community than other types of economic activities [7].

Many birders are willing to pay to see a particular species. In Costa Rica seeing a new species may [cost about 8-10 USD, whereas seeing a new species in the United States

may cost, on average, 75 USD [8]. In addition, tiny Costa Rica offers 946 species compared to 1202 species in the vast United States [9]. However, before starting to collect new species one should learn how to identify at least the most common birds near home. No person can identify every bird at all times, but we should aim to identify most of the birds most of the time [10]. Derek Lovitch offers many interesting ways to go about identification, calling it the 'Whole Bird and More' approach. His book teaches you how to manage this complex task of identifying more species, more quickly and more of the time [10].

Ornithology, the scientific side of birding, is one of the oldest organized scientific activities [11].

For more than 200 years the public has contributed significantly to our understanding of bird identification, distribution, and abundance. Building on this tradition, eBird (http:// ebird.org/) allows volunteers anywhere in the world to submit data about the birds they see at any time and in any location [12]. The millions of observations recorded each month, logged into a central database at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, are building a global understanding of the distribution, abundance, and movements of bird species. This information is now being used by scientists [13].

Global abundance estimates are available for 9,700 bird species, which is about 92% of all extant bird species [13]. This paper estimated that there are some 50 billion individual birds in the world at present, which is about six birds for every human on the planet. Relatively few species are very abundant. The top ten most numerous species are House Sparrow Passer domesticus at 1.6 billion; European Starling Sturnus vulgaris at 1.3 billion; Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis at 1.2 billion; Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica at 1.1 billion; Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus at 949 million; Alder Flycatcher Embidonax ainorum at 896 million; Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla at 815 million; Horned or Shore Lark Eremophila alpestris at 771 million; Sooty Tern Onychoprion fuscatus at 711 million; and Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis at 599 million [13].

The authors concluded that there are many rare species (1,180 species have population estimates of less than 5,000 individuals), highlighting the need to continue to refine global population estimates for all taxa and the role that global citizen science can play in this effort [13].

The taxonomy of birds complicates this hobby if taken seriously. At the moment there is a four-world list of birds, two long-established [14, 15] and two more recent offerings [16, 17]. The main differences come because the lists use different definitions of what constitutes a species [18]. Contemporary systematics attempted to take into account as many criteria as possible to delimit species, but currently the most influential approach is the use of genomic sequences. Luckily in this book, we have an excellent chapter by Emeritus Professor Michael Wink explaining the genetic reasons why we have continuously more bird species and why we may end up having 18,000 bird species in the world. The present 11,000 species is still a number relatively well to handle but soon the young people have to learn and protect 7,000 more bird species.

Evolutionary rules may make it impossible to preserve all 18,000 species forever because bird species arise, modify, and vanish. Only if we provide birds sufficient time and leave them more space can we expect to maintain so many diverse bird

**V**

species, and even then the natural reasons will keep them modifying, splitting, and becoming extinct. Human impact through global climate and land-use changes force extant bird species to accelerated modifications and population splits as well as reduces the population sizes of hitherto abundant species or even lets them

I want to acknowledge the friendly and active attitude of Author Service Manager Maja Bozicevic. Without her superb problem-solving skills this book would not

**Heimo Mikkola**

Kuopio, Finland

Eastern Finland University,

vanish forever [19].

have been published.

species, and even then the natural reasons will keep them modifying, splitting, and becoming extinct. Human impact through global climate and land-use changes force extant bird species to accelerated modifications and population splits as well as reduces the population sizes of hitherto abundant species or even lets them vanish forever [19].

I want to acknowledge the friendly and active attitude of Author Service Manager Maja Bozicevic. Without her superb problem-solving skills this book would not have been published.

> **Heimo Mikkola** Eastern Finland University, Kuopio, Finland
