Structures of breeding bird communities in wooded and densely built-up areas in a city centre in SW Poland

Breeding bird community in the city centre of Brzeg was quantified by means of the simplified version of the territory mapping method. The centre consists two habitats: densely built-up area (c. 40 ha) and wooded belt (c. 26 ha) around the built-up area. In 2022, 46 breeding bird species were recorded in the city centre; 25 species in the built-up area and 36 in the wooded area. The group of dominants in Brzeg city centre was composed of Apus apus, Columba livia, Sturnus vulgaris, Streptopelia decaocto, and Passer domesticus. They comprised together 59.1% of all breeding pairs of all species recorded. The group of subdominant was composed of five species Columba palumbus, Turdus merula, Cyanistes caeruleus, Sylvia atricapilla, Phylloscopus collybita (together 15.9% of all breeding pairs). In wooded area the following species were dominants: Stunus vularis, Columba palumbus, Turdus merula, Cyanistes caeurlea and Sylvia atricapilla (together 44.9%); while in built-up area: Apus apus, Columba palumbus, Streptopelia decaocto and Passer domesticus. Two species: Apus apus and Columba livia comprised 2/3 of all breeding pairs in the built-up area. Insectivores and granivores were the most numerous feeding guilds in the built-up area (58.3% and 39.3% respectively), whereas in the wooded area, the insectivores were much more numerous (75.0%) than the granivores (20.1%). In built up areas, most birds nested on buildings (79.8%), much less on trees or shrubs (15.6%), in tree holes (4.0%) and in herbaceous vegetation (0.2%). In the wooded area, most birds nested on trees/shrubs (52.8%) and in tree holes (37.3%).