Opportunistic citizen science data reveals habitat selection of lesser black‐backed gulls in Central Europe

Abstract

Abstract This study is the first attempt to find a relation between the opportunistic observation data of an easily identifiable but locally rare bird, in our case the lesser black‐backed gull (Larus fuscus fuscus), and the Corine Land Cover habitat map by applying a resource selection function model to reveal the habitat selection of the species. We provide a scientific analysis using the valuable citizen science dataset sourced from the www.birding.hu website, collected by hundreds of volunteers over a span of more than a decade in Hungary. Birds selected for landfills, river and lake habitats and showed a significant but much smaller attraction towards urban areas, while they selected against arable lands. We found that in the case of rare and moderately common birds, we can obtain a representative picture of the habitat selection of the species, even if the data are collected by non‐standardized means.

Keywords

• bird ecology
• birdwatching
• Hungary
• land cover
• macroecology