Promoting the Birdwatching in Southeast Brazil: The trajectory of the Sorocaba Bird Club

Abstract

Bird admirers have grown numerically and have been increasingly exercising the practice of birdwatching. Birdwatching is a leisure activity that consists, in its simplest form, of seeing birds in their natural environments. This practice is one of the most sustainable activities of ecotourism. In Brazil, there are many institutions linked to the promotion of birdwatching, including the so-called Birders Club. Although Brazil has several Birders Club, we still have a knowledge gap in the literature on how these institutions work to promote birdwatching ecotourism. In addition, we lack information on the historical trajectory that leads to the formation of the Birders Club, both the dynamics and types of activities they develop and the products linked to birdwatching that these institutions produce. To fill this knowledge gap, we seek to characterize a Birders Club in order to describe its historical trajectory, the activities and dynamics developed, the citizen science products it produces, as well as its role in the development of birdwatching ecotourism in the region. To achieve these goals, the chosen Birders Club was the Sorocaba Bird Club-COAVES”, located in the city of Sorocaba-SP. We hope that this characterization fills a knowledge gap aimed at understanding how Birders Club can promote ecological birdwatching tourism, the dynamics of its activities, as well as the both production and dissemination of knowledge linked to the local biodiversity. We used a qualitative methodology through direct observations of the authors of this article who are frequent members of the club, and through documentary content, such as photos, book chapters, papers, folders, among other resources to achieve the proposed objectives. We found that COAVES promotes birdwatching ecotourism not only in its city, but also in the cities of the region. We identified that this club has an important role in promoting Environmental Education in the local community. In addition, we note that the club has produced several products related to citizen science, such as a bird field guide, book chapters, official bird lists, birdwatching information boards, newspaper reports, among other products. Thus, through this panorama presented, we verified that the Brazilian Birders Club, represented here through COAVES, has an important social role in the mediation of knowledge and practices focused on the environment and promotion of birdwatching ecotourism.