Abel Hernández-Muñoz

Birds Nesting in Cavities in Cuba Abel Hernández-Muñoz

Birds, which are among the most charismatic groups of organisms, interact with our lives in many different ways (Perrins et al., 1991). A forest, for example, can be made more or less attractive to many people's eyes and ears by the beauty and diversity of shape, colour and sound that birds can display (Rosete et al., 2011). It is known that a large part of existing bird species are not in immediate danger of extinction; however, the threat posed by the current exploitation of natural resources by humans is increasingly noticeable in their populations. Despite current legal protection mechanisms, several of the bird species that nest in caves are threatened by the inexorable destruction of their habitats, and are rare in locations where they were once abundant (Elphick et al., 2002; Perrins, 2009). Due to the above and the great lack of information about the natural history of this group of species, the present book was prepared.