The estuary is an important feeding and resting site for mixed flocks of coastal seabirds, limnological inhabitants and also edge inhabitants. Once in a month, three census were done on the bird fauna with two hours intervals within observations, during the period from January/96 to December/98. The results showed the presence of 45 species, where 45,7% were regularly observed, while 17,9 occurred seasonally and 36,4% were occasional in the census. The highest abundance occurred during the winter and spring months, and the lowest during the summer and autumn. The medium annual diversity index varied between 1,68 ± 0,36 and 1,82 ± 0,34. The highest similarity of fauna was observed between the years 1997 and 1998.
Avifauna; census; seasonal changes; Santa Catarina