The Atlas of Breeding Birds in the City of Milan (2009-2024)

Marina Nova; Luca Ilahiane; Diego Rubolini

doi:10.15468/9w6arm

The Atlas of Breeding Birds in the City of Milan (2009-2024)

Citation

Nova M, Ilahiane L, Rubolini D (2026). The Atlas of Breeding Birds in the City of Milan (2009-2024). Version 1.4. Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/9w6arm accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-06-04.

Description

This occurrence dataset provides georeferenced, validated records of breeding bird species recorded in the city of Milan (Northern Italy) during two distinct temporal periods, 2009-2013 and 2020-2024. The dataset was assembled from several sources (mostly the Ornitho.it web platform) and was managed by the Università degli Studi di Milano, Associazione GuardaMI and Associazione FaunaViva mainly in the framework of two different citizen science projects, GuardaMI (2020-2024) and AViUM (2009-2013, Bonazzi et al. 2005). The original data went through a careful, expert-based evaluation process and only validated data are included in the final dataset. Original observation data were aggregated by month and by 1 km grid units (custom spatial grid, available at https://doi.org/10.13130/RD_UNIMI/G7ZWBS/) and the provided occurrences thus have a spatial accuracy of 1 km and a temporal accuracy of 1 month. The coordinates associated with each record are the geographic coordinates (EPSG:4326) of the centroids of each 1 km grid cell. The grid cell identifier is provided in the field “locationID”. The dataset was used to realise distribution maps for "The Atlas of Breeding Birds in the City of Milan", which will be published by the Milano University Press and will be available in Open Access at https://doi.org/10.54103/milanoup.306/ (Nova et al. 2026).

The dataset includes all records for 80 confirmed breeding species, and each record has an associated breeding code (field “eventRemarks”) (the highest breeding evidence recorded for a given species in a given month/year combination in each grid cell).

The dataset further includes occurrences for 10 native species that have been recorded during the breeding season in the city of Milano and may potentially breed there but lack breeding evidence, as well as for 6 non-established, non-native species. For non-breeding native species, occurrences recorded during the non-breeding period are also provided for comparison, and the field “eventRemarks” hence provides details on whether a given occurrence record belongs to the “breeding” or the “non-breeding” period.

References

Bonazzi P., Buvoli L., Belardi M., Brambilla M., Celada C., Favaron M., Gottardi G., Nova M., Rubolini D., Fornasari L. (2005). Il progetto AVIUM - Atlante VIrtuale degli Uccelli di Milano. Ecologia Urbana XVII: 13-16

Nova M., Ilahiane L., Deaddis M., Di Martino S., Sozzi M., Lardelli R., Gottardi G., Bonazzi P., Brambilla M., Rubolini D. (2026). Atlante degli uccelli nidificanti nella città di Milano. Milano University Press, Milano

Sampling Description

Method steps

Taxonomic Coverages

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Psittacidae
rank: family
Troglodytidae
rank: family
Suliformes
rank: order
Laridae
rank: family
Sylviidae
rank: family
Corvidae
rank: family
Cuculiformes
rank: order
Upupidae
rank: family
Phylloscopidae
rank: family
Anseriformes
rank: order
Columbidae
rank: family
Regulidae
rank: family
Muscicapidae
rank: family
Motacillidae
rank: family
Animalia
rank: kingdom
Phalacrocoracidae
rank: family
Cuculidae
rank: family
Aegithalidae
rank: family
Galliformes
rank: order
Podicipedidae
rank: family
Emberizidae
rank: family
Passeriformes
rank: order
Pelecaniformes
rank: order
Ciconiiformes
rank: order
Picidae
rank: family
Falconiformes
rank: order
Accipitriformes
rank: order
Sturnidae
rank: family
Cordata
rank: phylum
Cettiidae
rank: family
Gruiformes
rank: order
Fringillidae
rank: family
Alcedinidae
rank: family
Columbiformes
rank: order
Scolopacidae
rank: family
Aves
rank: class
Apodiformes
rank: order
Charadriiformes
rank: order
Charadriidae
rank: family
Threskiornithidae
rank: family
Passeridae
rank: family
Recurvirostridae
rank: family
Bucerotiformes
rank: order
Accipitridae
rank: family
Podicipediformes
rank: order
Hirundinidae
rank: family
Strigidae
rank: family
Psittaciformes
rank: order
Alaudidae
rank: family
Phasianidae
rank: family
Falconidae
rank: family
Apodidae
rank: family
Turdidae
rank: family
Rallidae
rank: family
Acrocephalidae
rank: family
Strigiformes
rank: order
Psittaculidae
rank: family
Coraciiformes
rank: order
Piciformes
rank: order
Laniidae
rank: family
Paridae
rank: family
Ardeidae
rank: family
Oriolidae
rank: family
Cisticolidae
rank: family
Ciconiidae
rank: family
Anatidae
rank: family
Meropidae
rank: family

Geographic Coverages

Coordinate data are provided as the centroid of 1 km grid cells (custom grid, available at https://doi.org/10.13130/RD_UNIMI/G7ZWBS/)

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Marina Nova
originator
Associazione GuardaMI
Milano
IT
email: info.guardami@gmail.com
homepage: https://guarda.mi.it/

Luca Ilahiane
originator
Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali
Milano
IT
email: luca.ilahiane@unimi.it

Diego Rubolini
originator
Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali
Milano
IT
email: diego.rubolini@unimi.it
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2703-5783

Marina Nova
administrative point of contact
Associazione GuardaMI
Milano
IT
email: info.guardami@gmail.com
homepage: https://guarda.mi.it/

Diego Rubolini
administrative point of contact
Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali
Milano
IT
email: diego.rubolini@unimi.it
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2703-5783