{Breeding passerines communities in the Valdes Peninsula (Patagonia , Argentina)}

The Valdes Peninsula is a high-natural value area, located on the east coast of Argentine Patagonia. The aim of the reported research was to analyze the community of breeding passerine birds of the inland areas, with the purpose to identify the species that characterize each community, determining the main environmental typologies frequented, in order to study the relationships between bird richness and abundance, and environmental structure. During the breeding season 2011, 107 point counts were performed. 869 birds belonging to 23 passerine species were contacted and analyzed through a cluster analysis using the Indicator Value method. Results revealed the existence of two different communities: one that essentially refers to the grassy steppe where the characteristic species are Shortbilled Pipit (Anthus furcatus) and Common Miner (Geositta cunicularia), and the other one, which occupies the shrub-steppe consisting of more characteristic species, starting from the Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis), the most widespread species. These results update previous results on the community of passerines living in the study area and provide some useful insights for management purposes.