**Chan Ryul Park \* , Sohyeon Suk and Sumin Choi**

Urban Forests Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science, 57, Hoegiro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02455, Korea; m17swannebula@gmail.com (S.S.); ciromi@korea.kr (S.C.)

**\*** Correspondence: maeulsoop@korea.kr; Tel.: +82-2-961-2612

Received: 29 September 2020; Accepted: 9 November 2020; Published: 10 November 2020 -

**Abstract:** Interaction between nature and human has formulated unique biodiversity in temperate regions. People have conserved and maintained traditional folk villages (TFVs) dominated with houses made of natural materials, arable land and surrounding elements of landscape. Until now, little attention has been given to understand the traits of breeding birds in TFVs of Korea. The aim of this study was to reveal traits of breeding birds in TFVs and get conservative implications for biodiversity. We selected five TFVs: Hahoe maeul (HA), Wanggok maeul (WG), Nagan maeul (NA), Yangdong maeul (YD), and Hangae maeul (HG). We surveyed breeding birds with line transect methods, and analyzed functional traits (diet type and nest type) of birds in TFVs. Among 60 species recorded, *Passer montanus* (PM), *Streptopelia orientalis* (SO), *Hirundo rustica* (HR), *Pica pica* (PP), *Phoenicuros auroreus* (PA), *Paradoxornis webbiana* (PW), *Microscelis amaurotis* (MA), *Carduelis sinica* (CA) and *Oriolus chinensis* (OC) could be potential breeding birds that prefer diverse habitats of TFVs in Korea. Compared to the breeding birds of rural, urban and forest environments, the diversity of nesting types for birds was high in TFVs. The diverse nest types of breeding birds can be linked with habitat heterogeneity influenced by sustainable interaction between nature and human in TFVs in Korea.

**Keywords:** backyard forest; functional traits; livelihood; nesting guild; pungsu
