TRADITIONAL USE OF WILD BIRDS BY AFRO-DESCENDANT COMMUNITIES IN THE LOW BASIN OF THE ATRATO RIVER, COLOMBIA

Background. The Afro-descendant communities inhabiting the lower portion of the Atrato River basin in Colombia maintain a close relationship with their environment's biological diversity and ecosystem. Although the wild birds in the basin have been studied for their richness and ecological value, there are no ethnobiological accounts, even though this resource has been traditionally used in these communities’ feeding. Even though most of such communities consist of fishers, farmer families, and wood merchants, they have a solid vocation for occasional hunting since the performance of their regular activities requires that they carry tools such as a shotgun for hunting the wild birds and mammals they come across in passing through the jungle or near a swamp. Objective. Know the traditional use of meat and wild bird by-products by two Afro-descendant communities in the lower basin of the Atrato River in northwestern Colombia. Methodology. Interviews were conducted with 21 key informants (local experts) as well as 173 household surveys. Mann-Whitney end Kruskal Wallis tests were performed to determine statistically significant differences using the R Software 4.1.2 and RStudio 1.4.1103 programs. Results. Wild bird diversity in the tropical rainforest provides a wide range of meat products for food security of the Afro-descendant communities that inhabit the lower portion of the Atrato River basin in Colombia. This assortment consists of at least 20 species, Galliformes foremost. Meat and viscera are generally consumed through preparations such as sancocho, stewed meat, fried meat, smoked meat, roasted meat, ground meat, or shredded meat, and no disease or discomfort for human health have thus far been associated with its consumption. Wild birds are consumed in all the households that were surveyed, and the most important for these communities are Cairina moschata sylvestris (mountain duck), Penelope ortoni (dusky-legged guan), Dendrocygna autumnalis (black-bellied whistling duck), Chauna chavaria (northern screamer), Colinus cristatus (crested bobwhite), Phalacrocorax brasilianus (crow duck) and Ortalis cinereiceps (little ground tyrant). Comparisons between the two communities showed that this resource becomes more critical the more isolated the territory. Implications. This study is an input to understand the importance of wild biological diversity for family feeding in human communities in tropical zones. Conclusions. The seven species indicated above constitute the basis for prioritizing wild birds for bioprospecting purposes in planning food and nutritional security for these communities, which also requires that the parties involved in biodiversity conservation pay particular attention to certain species being used for food.