Abstract
Bird’s species diversity and abundance are being threatened due to agricultural activities and anthropogenic practices which causes habitat destruction and fragmentation. Understanding how avian species respond to habitat destruction is important towards development of effective measures to ensure that the environment is protected. A study on avian abundance, diversity and conservation status was conducted in Etago Sub-County, Kisii County Kenya from September 2018 to February 2019. Point counts and time species counts were used to carry out birds’ survey to determine their abundance and diversity in the secondary forest, sugarcane plantations, human settlement and mixed firms. A total of 4992 individuals were observed and recorded in the entire study area. The human settlement had the highest density of 1.664 ± 0.18 birds/ha followed by sugarcane plantation with 1.092 ± 0.16 birds/ha and Nyangweta secondary forest was third with 0.0819 ± 0.13. Mixed firms had the least density of 0.95 ± 0.017 bird/ha. Further Dunn’s multiple comparisons test showed that Mixed farming and forest had no significant difference and had mean rank difference of 11.37. In mixed farming vs human settlement there was a significant difference with a mean rank difference of 57.38; in mixed farming vs sugarcane farms there was no significant difference; in the four habitats, 114 species of birds were cumulatively recorded. Out of these, 106 species were recorded in the secondary forests, 98 human settlement and 87 species in the sugarcane plantations and 55 in mixed farms. There was a significant difference in bird diversity in the four habitats where Secondary forest had the highest diversity of 3.85 and sugarcane plantations had a diversity of 3.71 while human settlement and mixed firms had lower diversities of 2.6 and 2.5 respectively (df1 = 2, df2 = 0.0 F = 0.00001, P = 0.00001).
Highlights
Highlands and Mountains are known for sheltering high diversity of birds with many coexisting species within habitat types [1]
The human settlement had the highest density of 1.664 ± 0.18 birds/ha followed by sugarcane plantation with 1.092 ± 0.16 birds/ha and Nyangweta secondary forest was third with 0.0819 ± 0.13
The average density of the three most common species was highest with Nyangweta taking 1230, sugarcane plantation taking 1340, human settlement taking 1390 and mixed farming taking 960 respectively
Summary
Highlands and Mountains are known for sheltering high diversity of birds with many coexisting species within habitat types [1]. Birds occupy many trophic levels in a food chain ranging from consumers to predators Their occurrences have been helpful as ecological health indicator, plant pollinators of trees with sturdy, brightly coloured flowers [5] and seed dispersal that is Frugivorous birds assist in the natural regeneration by dispersing seeds [6] as well as pest controller [7]. They form part of the attractive vertebrates which are enjoyable to watch because of their distinctive colors, showy display, distinctive songs and calls
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