A Four-Year Study of a Bird Community in a Woodland Remnant Near Moyston, Western Victoria (original) (raw)

at a woodland remnant near Moyston in western Victoria. The migratory status of each species was assessed. Changes in abundance seasonally and over a longer period are reported. The results indicate that this remnant .is used by about thirty species of resident birds as well as supporting various migrants and partial migrants. The study site was occasionally visited by large numbers of several nectarivorous species. Two resident species (Hooded Robin Melanodryas cucullata and Buff-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza reguloides) disappeared during the survey, and another (Speckled Warbler Chthonico/a sagittatus) has since disappeared from the remnant. These species are all ground nesters and/or ground feeders. Such species are of conservation concern across the temperate woodlands of southeastern Australia, as they also have declined elsewhere in these habitats in recent decades. The White-browed Scrubwren Sericornis frontalis was a resident by the survey's completion, having been recorded only sporadically earlier in the study. The results give insight into the movements of birds at this site and presumably other woodland remnants in the area. The loss of resident species witnessed here is a tangible example of a loss of species occurring at a larger scale in temperate woodlands in Australia. S. J. Kennedy: Study of a bird community in a woodland remnant near Moyston, Western Victoria Corella 27(2) The area has a temperate climate with average monthly maximum temperatures ranging from 27.7°C in January to 11. I °C in July, and average monthly minimum temperatures ranging from I 2.6°C in February to l.7°C in June and July (temperature data are for Ararat, 16 km to the cast). Moyston receives an average of 573 millimetres of rain per year (LCC I 980), with most rain falling in winter and spring. Censusing A single, strip transect (approximately 1.5 km in length and I 00 m in width) was used to estimate bird species richness and abundance. The transect route extensively sampled all habitats of the remnant, and was completed in approximately four hours. Censuses commenced at sunrise or soon after on overcast mornings. Every bird sighted during the census was recorded and counted. Care was taken Lo avoid double counting. Birds heard calling from within the remnant were recorded when they were first heard, and if they were not ullimately sighted during the survey they were counted as 'one'. Birds using the aerial space over the study site for hunting (e.g. raptors) or feeding (e.g. martins or swallows) are included in the results. Data collected on other birds flying over the transect are not included in this paper. The census was made on the second or third weekend of each month between September 1989 and February I 994. There were five censuses in the spring and summer months and four in the autumn and winter months. Counts were averaged across the years. Classifirn1io11 of migrawry stmus At the completion of data collection the seasonal variation in abundance of each species was assessed and each species was classed as a resident, migrant, partial migrant, or visitor. The definitions of migratory status have been adapted from Er and Tidemann (1996).