eBird data for: Avian behaviour changes in response to human activity during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom

Human activities may impact animal habitat and resource use, potentially
influencing contemporary evolution in animals. In the United Kingdom (UK),
COVID-19 lockdown restrictions resulted in sudden, drastic alterations to
human activity. We hypothesized that short-term daily and long-term
seasonal changes in human mobility might result in changes in bird habitat
use, depending on the mobility type (home, parks, grocery) and the extent
of change. Using Google human mobility data and 872 850 bird observations,
we determined that during lockdown, human mobility changes resulted in
altered habitat use in 80% (20/25) of our focal bird species. When humans
spent more time at home, over half of affected species had lower counts,
perhaps resulting from the disturbance of birds in garden habitats. Bird
counts of some species (e.g. rooks, gulls) increased over the short-term
as humans spent more time parks, possibly due to human-sourced food
resources (e.g. picnic refuse), while counts of other species (e.g. tits
and sparrows) decreased. All affected species increased counts when humans
spent less time at grocery services. Avian species rapidly adjusted to the
novel environmental conditions and demonstrated behavioural plasticity,
but with diverse responses, reflecting the different interactions and
pressures caused by human activity.