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Study on bird translocation sheds more light on forest-dwelling birds
An important research carried out on the translocation of birds into agricultural and forested landscapes has shed more light on conserving forest-dwelling endemic birds.
Principal researcher Salinda Kasun Dayananada, a PhD student from Guangxi Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Conservation, College of Forestry, Guangxi University, told the Sunday Times that the four-year long research on translocation of birds is a first for South Asia and one of the first on the translocation of forest birds into tea and rubber plantations.
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher with transmitter
The research has revealed that maintaining forest undergrowth and forest corridors were essential for the conservation of forest-dwelling birds.
He said the study was based on observing how two types of bird species that were first captured and then released into plantations, returned to the capture sites. The birds were radio tagged and were monitored using radio telemetry and field observations.
“The Sri Lanka Brown-capped Babbler (Pellorneum fuscocapillus) an endemic bird which prefers understory of forests as well as the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis tickelliae) a habitat generalist, were used for the project,” Mr. Dayananda said.
He added that the project gave an insight into the behavioural pattern of the forest birds and how man-made alterations in habitats affect birds in the long term. Mr. Dayananda’s team comprised members of the Field Ornithology Group (FOGSL) and the Young Zoologist Association (YZA) Butterfly Conservation Society and the University of Colombo and freelance researchers.
The research was carried out in protected forest locations such as the Maakandawa forest reserve, Yagirala forest reserve and Bodhinagala Forest reserve and private-owned plantations with small forest fragments such as Veeoya estate, Halgolla estate and Kudaligama and Thannapitahena estates.
Mr. Dayananda said 19 translocations of birds were carried out in forested areas, rubber and tea plantations. The Sri Lanka Brown-capped Babbler was used for nine translocations and the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher was used for the rest.
It was observed that the forest-specialising Brown-capped Babbler returned to the capture sites when they were translocated into other forested areas but when translocated into rubber plantations the bird did not venture out and was unable to return to the capture site. On the other hand the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, a forest-generalist bird which lives in forest canopy returned to its capture sites. The flycatcher also avoided penetrating deep into rubber plantations and remained in the periphery of the rubber plantation canopy before returning to original capture sites.
The research also revealed that understory forest specialised birds preferred to move about through understory foliage and did not venture out into open areas where the foliage had been cleared.
When it came to birds that frequented forest undergrowth habitats the study showed that the birds were hesitant to move to other parts of the forest where the undergrowth had been cleared. Therefore the research highlighted the importance of maintaining forest growth to sustain the bird population, Mr. Dayananda said.
Overall the study revealed the importance of maintaining forest undergrowth and forest corridors for the conservation of forest-dwelling birds specially outside the protected areas. The study also gave more insight into the behavioural pattern of how birds reach their home rangers.
Mr. Dayananda believes the findings would greatly help to develop conservation strategies, raise awareness on biodiversity conservation, bird handling and radio tracking of birds.
He said the field study was supervised by Prof. Eben Goodale of the Guangxi Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Conservation College of Forestry Guangxi University and co supervised by Dr. Christos Mamides of the Nature Conservation Unit, Frederick University Cypress and Emeritus Professor Sarath W. Kotagama, the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka, Department of Zoology and Environment Science, Faculty of Science of the University of Colombo.
The research was funded by Guangxi University of China and the Conservation, Food, and Health Foundation, USA while the Biodiversity flatform of the Chamber of Commerce and Hayleys PLC facilitated the project.
He said researchers Harsha Athukorala, Indika Peabotuwage, Chandra Lal Kumara, Umesh Fernando, Dhammithra Samarasinghe, Ruvinda de Mel as well, Tharindu Ranasinghe and Rukmal Rathnayake were also involved in the work.
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