Sicilian ornithological report 2021 (Sicily, Italy)

Useful documents such as Ornithological Reports are no longer published, although these types of publications help us to evaluate population trends: the IUCN status of each species is influenced by this kind documentations, and they are useful also to improve knowledge on migratory movements and, generally, on animal ecology. A report often collects also information from citizens: involving citizens in science projects has a strong positive response on their lives and their sensitivity to environmental issues. Given this importance, it seemed reasonable to us to work on a report which includes all the most important observations of birds of 2021. The importance rank was evaluated on the basis of the number of individuals or their unusual phenology. Every year, a high number of observations of wild animals are reported in several social media. These observations/records are lost if no one collects, validates and publishes them. All the data we present have been collected either from several digital channels of information, such as Ornitho, Ubird, eBird, INaturalist, Facebook groups, Trektellen.org or directly from birdwatchers. They include noteworthy observations about 185 species observed in Sicily during the year 2021 and, in addition, 109 species listed in a separate table because of fragmented or useless information.