How are the birds in the Garden related?

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Inside the Botanical Garden we find various inhabitants and visitors. When entering the interior of the forest it is common to hear the songs of birds, see their silhouettes moving among the canopies and observe their colorful plumages; We know that they play an important role and that they surely benefit from the forest, but how do they really relate to plants?

First of all, it should be noted that birds are one of the groups of wildlife that we find in the Garden, we can also observe squirrels, bats, frogs, a large number of insects, among others, that fulfill a function and find shelter and food in the forests of the region.

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Birds and plants have a mutualistic interaction, meaning they both benefit from each other. Birds are important seed dispersers, they find a good source of food in the fruits of many species, while they can disperse their seeds great distances, which represents a contribution to the expansion of forests, colonization of new sites and enrichment. thereof. Likewise, birds find shelter in the trunks and branches of trees, as well as raw materials to make their nests, in many cases.

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These interactions have evolved over time, in the tropics more than 70% have adapted so that seed dispersal is carried out by animals, likewise birds have developed morphological adaptations that make them ideal for this function and for another of great importance. , pollination; Birds like hummingbirds feed on the nectar of flowers while pollinating them, taking the pollen with them. 

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The effects on Andean forests, the decrease in their coverage, means that birds find fragmented ecosystems in which it is increasingly difficult to maintain the balance and interactions that living beings have with the forest. As a Forest Botanical Garden, we seek the conservation and restoration of the ecosystems of the region, understanding forests as refuges for fauna, and as ecosystems with a large number of ecosystem services provided. 

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In the Forest Botanical Garden of Cundinamarca we carry out bird watching days, and during the tours it is possible to observe them in their natural environment, we have identified around 26 species of birds thanks to the expert birders of the municipality of Pacho and we have found woodpeckers, toucans, herons, swallows, toches, warblers, among many more. When you enter the Garden you receive a digital guide with photographs of the birds that we have observed, as well as some basic guidelines for observing them, in case you have not done bird watching before.

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Text by:  Luisa Garzón Hernández 

Forest Engineer

Scientific technical direction

Yarumo Foundation Cundinamarca Forest Botanical Garden.