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Community Structure of Resident and Migratory Bird Species in Talabong Mangrove Forest, Bais City, Negros Oriental, Philippines

2022; Volume: 151; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.56899/151.02.15

0031-7683

Jean Henri Oracion, Renee Paalan, Julius Diyeng Canja, Kriztein Lydnel Sumondong,

Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics

Mangrove forests throughout the world are recognized as stopover sites by many migratory birds – including waders – as they contain ample food resources such as invertebrates, fruits, and flowers that are beneficial to most birds. In connection, the Talabong Mangrove Forest located in Bais, Negros Oriental, Philippines is recognized as a wildlife sanctuary, but no recent data on birds could supplement this. Thus, this study aims to assess the distribution patterns of migratory and resident birds in the said site during the southward migration which encompasses both wet and dry seasons. Also, the investigation determines whether Talabong mangrove could function as a stopover site for migratory birds. To examine the community structure, the populations of resident and migratory bird species were assessed for species composition, diversity, density, and abundance in three sampling periods: pre-migration, migration, and post-migration. The line transects and point-count methods were employed with four transect lines laid out on the study site. Each line stretched a kilometer long with a 250-m interval with five points for point-counting and was visited on each sampling period. Points were marked for a consistent sampling. For each sampling period, results showed that the birds’ abundance, diversity, and density remained consistently high throughout each sampling. Specifically, the species composition and the number of resident birds did not seem to alter and remained high as well. On the other hand, migrants had an abrupt increase during migration sampling and decreased towards the end. But similarity analyses suggest species composition remained approximately similar for the migrants. The results showed that Talabong mangrove forest contained some migratory species – making it a decent stopover site, although not as many migrants as in other protected mangroves and wetlands in the Philippines. The resident birds occupying the site may also have served as cues for the migrants.