Data from: Area of habitat maps and validated occurrences for neotropical birds of conservation concern

Understanding species distributions is essential for advancing bird conservation, especially in the rapidly changing landscapes of the Neotropics, where habitat loss and degradation are accelerating. Area of Habitat (AOH) maps offer valuable spatial tools for illustrating species distributions by highlighting potentially suitable habitats within their geographic range. In this study, we generated AOH maps for 713 neotropical bird species of conservation concern, which includes species listed as globally or nationally threatened, endemic, or with restricted ranges. Using primary biodiversity data and a structured geospatial workflow, we refined approximately 2.5 million occurrence records through a flagging process and validated 50,743 records manually. This unparalleled effort led to the creation of high-quality AOH maps, along with altitude-corrected Extent of Occurrence (EOO-DEM) and Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) range maps.  Our AOH maps significantly improved species distribution predictions for 82% of species, over EOO-DEM maps. The validated occurrences and AOH maps produced in this study have wide-ranging applications, providing a valuable basis for the development of new species distribution models and for evaluating species’ natural history, extinction risk, and habitat threats. They also support the identification of priority areas for strategic conservation investments. Importantly, these maps played a key role in systematic conservation planning analyses for the Conserva Aves initiative, which is facilitating the creation of more than 80 new protected areas across Latin America, safeguarding 2 million hectares and improving the management of an additional 2 million hectares (https://conserva-aves.org/).