Unveiling the migratory patterns of scarlet flycatchers using citizen science databases
摘要
The migratory patterns of many Neotropical bird species remain largely unknown. Numerous logistic challenges prevent such studies, from research costs, often prohibitively expensive to Neotropical research institutions, to equipment weight limitations. Therefore, it is paramount to explore new possibilities in the field of migratory bird research such as the abundant records from citizen science platforms. In this study, we investigated the spatial and temporal migratory patterns of the scarlet flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus using two citizen science platforms: eBird and WikiAves, which provided 40,837 records of the species. Our findings indicated that scarlet flycatchers arrive at the wintering grounds in central-western Brazil, central-eastern Bolivia, and eastern Peru around May and June. We also found that scarlet flycatchers arrive at breeding grounds in central and eastern Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay between August and October, where it stays in the months thereafter (November, December, January). The year-round records of the species in northern Argentina and southern Paraguay deserve further studies. Understanding migratory patterns is imperative for predicting population dynamics and climate influence on the breeding biology of these species in the face of a rapidly changing world.