Birds in European Cities
This recently published volume is reasonably unique in its chosen subject matter in that it addresses avian utilisation of what, on the face of it, appear to be generally sub-optimum areas for birds. It opens with a forward and preface explaining the book’s genesis, followed by a short paper (‘Birds and Their Urban Environment’) written by the editors, which gives a brief overview of what follows and discusses the need for a good deal more biological nous within modern urban planning and implementation. In many ways this book will appeal (but by no means exclusively) to students of urban and suburban bird assemblages. It presents geographical, climatological and ornithological data and summaries for 16 European cities from 11 countries, all adequately described by 24 authors from conurbations as widespread as St Petersburg, Rome, Lisbon and Hamburg.
What is so obviously lacking in this respect are chapters representing any cities within Britain and Ireland, France or Scandinavia, but this is likely to be remedied in future editions as more authors are recruited and more cities added. However, the current lack of coverage of these countries shouldn’t deter anyone with even the mildest interest in urban birdlife from investigating this book.
The few minor criticisms I have relate to a lack of close proof-reading (there are a fair number of typographical errors that have crept needlessly into the text), allied to some rather convoluted passages where translation into English from the original language isn’t quite as fluid as one would hope. One other criticism, albeit of a rather cosmetic aspect, is that the book’s cover depicts a shockingly amateurish and gloomy photograph of a flock of (anthropic) Feral Pigeons on a Barcelona street, a city which isn’t covered in this edition. Ornithologically, more quantitative information on the distribution of habitat within what are termed ‘cities’ for comparative purposes, and more data on avian productivity and survival rates in urban areas compared to more rural areas, would have been beneficial.
However, these criticisms don’t overly detract from a book that is otherwise well-presented and edited and which is, generally, a mine of information. The contents of each chapter are laid out attractively and the information for each city follows a format roughly along the lines of an introduction, historical ornithological data, recent developments in the city avifauna, a breakdown of constituent habitats and bird communities therein, migrants, alien and exotic species (very illuminating where applicable) and anecdotes and other miscellaneous information. Each concludes with a brief ‘where to watch’ section, which is usually little more than a list of sites worth birding. Each city treated is then appendicised with a list of breeding species or, alternatively, a full list of species recorded within city limits.
The text is reasonably dense, though certainly not optical porridge, and is enlivened by many maps, graphs and fair quality black-and-white photographs of locales, habitat composition and the occasional bird. As such, for an urban birder like me, it made for a fascinating read. Some interesting facts emerge on avian diversity within urban environs sensu stricto compared to more rural areas (though many rural or semi-rural areas are in fact contained within what are termed ‘cities’ across Europe) which appear to hold good for all the cities so far covered.
Urban bird communities as a whole often comprise a far greater range of species at far higher densities than similarly sized rural areas as a consequence of diverse habitat spectrum and food supply, though conversely the range of species within any sub-habitat within the urban environment is likely to be appreciably lower than in its rural counterpart. Much can also be gleaned here about how certain species have adapted to take advantage of some very built-up areas (check out the fascinating story of Blackbird, for instance).
In the years to come, this volume has the potential to expand and take in many more avifaunas from many more European cities and is likely to become a valuable reference on the synurbanisation of birds in
Tech spec
- Birds in European Cities by John Kelcey and Goetz Rheinwald (Ginster Verlag, Germany, 2005).
- 452 pages, black-and-white photographs and maps.
- ISBN 978 3980681728. Hbk, £23.95.
