Birdwatching tourism in the Protected Area of the Ilha do Bananal, Cantão Region (TO, Brazil)

Abstract

Birding is one of the segments of ecotourism that has attracted more practitioners in Brazil and the world, being considered of low environmental impact and proving good economic profitability. The remarkable variety of environments found in the country and the rich avifauna associated with them has provided bird watching activities in all regions and much of this biodiversity is found in conservation units, but few are structured to receive this public. Although great part of the ornithological knowledge is obtained by ornithologists, the number of new registries realized by birdwatchers, who exercise the call citizen science, is increasing. This work presents a bird list of the Bananal Island / Cantão region, Tocantins state, one of the main destinations for bird observation in the country, updated from documented records made by birdwatchers and analyzes the important role of citizen science in the acquisition of relevant information for the knowledge and conservation of the regional avifauna.