Ethnotaxonomy of birds by the inhabitants of Pedra Branca Village, Santa Teresinha municipality, Bahia state, Brazil

BACKGROUND Studies on popular names of birds help to understand the relationship between human beings and birds and it also contributes to the field of ornithology. METHODS This study aims to register the ethnotaxonomy of birds in the village of Pedra Branca, Santa Teresinha municipality, Bahia State, Brazil, by cataloguing and identifying their popular names, besides understanding the ethnoclassification system of local bird species. The ethno-ornithological data were obtained by means of semi-structured open interviews, and projective tests. RESULTS We interviewed 48 residents and, in order to identify species, we chose five informants with a more detailed knowledge on local avifauna. We registered 139 common names, distributed into 108 ethnospecies and 33 synonyms, referring to 117 species. Nomenclatural criteria more frequently used were vocalization and coloring patterns. Following Berlin's principles of ethnobiological classification, three hierarchical levels were registered: life form, generic and specific, with three types of correspondence between Linnaean and folk classification systems. The bird life form ("pássaro" in Portuguese) was associated only to wild species. CONCLUSIONS The ethno-ornithological research in Pedra Branca Village has contributed with new information on popular nomenclature of birds and their etymology, showing that folk knowledge on birds is conveyed within the community.