Birders eye on Combretum Park

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Birders eye on Combretum Park

• The ideal trail for birding in Combretum Park
• Compiled by Megan, Rosemary, Rob and Kim

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To find habitats of high diversity and greatest
species richness

• What we know
• Bird watching is made difficult due to their
  constant movement
• Specific species are attracted to certain
  vegetation, food or climate.
• Looking for habitat representational species
• See as many different birds as possible

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How to find the best site

• Sample every habitat
• Record every bird (seen heard)
• Note number of taxa (Diversity)
• Note number per unit area (Density)
• Statistical indices
• Apply restrictions
• What do the numbers tell us?

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Habitats to choose from

• Habitats
• Broad-leafed Savanna (BL)
• Mixed Acacia Woodlands (MA)
• Felsites Ridge (FR)
• Sandstone Ridge (SSR)
• Sodic Site (SS)
• Parameters
• Late summer/ early autumn (April)
• Over two consecutive days (21st 22nd)
• Two early mornings (08h0009h00), two late
  mornings (10h0012h00) and one late afternoon
  (15h3017h15)

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Method

• Point count
• 100m radius 200m between points
• Each point is sampled once
• 10 minutes per point
• Using laser distance detector
• Data we need
• Bird name
• Abundance
• Range

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Data Analysis

• Treatment
• Individuals per hectare
• Plot Histogram
• Find inflection point
• Tabulate species vs abundance vs site
• Sørensens Index of similarity
• Sørensens Quantitative Index

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Detectability vs. Distance
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Time of day
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Sørensens Index of similarity

• S 2j (a b)100
• j Number of common species between site 1 and
  2
• a Number of species in Site 1
• b Number of species in Site 2

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Sørensens Quantitative Index

• Cs 2jn (an bn )
• jn Sum of the lower of the two abundances
  recorded in each site for the same species
• an Total number of birds in Site 1
• bn Total number of birds in Site 2

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Results
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Detectability vs. Distance
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Time of day
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Results
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Verdict

• Sand Stone Ridge Sodic Site
• Greatest species richness
• Greatest number of individual spotted
• Open habitats
• Early morning or late afternoon

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Bird count summary