Behavioural activities of two sympatric bird species and implications for Conservation and birding tourism in an urban landscape
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Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tanzania Journal of Forestry and Nature Conservation
Abstract
The behaviours of most Afro-tropical birds
inhabiting urban landscapes are still poorly
understood making species conservation
and utilization challenging particularly in
increasingly changing cityscapes. This study
investigated activity patterns of two
sympatric bird species, the Zanzibar red
bishop (Euplectes nigroventris) and Black-
headed weaver (Ploceus cucullatus)
inhabiting urban forest remnants to provide
information to improve species conservation
and potential plans for avitourism in urban
Morogoro, Tanzania. A total of 60
individual Zanzibar red bishop and 28
individual weaver birds were observed, for
three weeks to understand their diel activity
patterns. Eleven activities were displayed by
the birds with the mean time budgets for
some activities varying significantly
between species, bird sex and habitat types.
Further, birds spent significantly longer
time during morning than afternoon or
evening on most activities probably to offset
the energy demands for the survival and
reproduction. Variation in activity budgets
between the two species was probably due
to the species intrinsic strategies such as
group foraging by the weaver that enhance
easy detection and access to the food
resources. These data will be useful for
planning bird conservation and utilization
programs especially in cities where birds are
increasing threatened by human persecution
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Daily activity pattern, Afro- tropical birds, City tourism, Passerines, Time budget, Urban ecology