Attraction of bird feeders to avianfauna at the mangrove area of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT)

Abstract

The provision of food to birds using bird feeders is a common practice. There are many studies conducted using bird feeders in garden areas, but only a few in mangrove areas. Furthermore, changes of environment such as habitat destruction might affect the natural habitat of birds. This study was conducted in the mangrove area of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) to identify the bird species through the use of bird feeders and to study the feasibility of bird feeders as a conservation tool. Three types of bird feeders were used namely the bird table, hanging feeder and ground feeder. This study involves six months of samplings from August 2007 to January 2008. A total of 301 sightings from nine families with 12 species were recorded in this study. There were 11 species that are of resident status and one species recorded as resident and migrant. The Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis) was the most frequent species observed at the study area with 147 sightings (48.84%). There were no significant differences between three types of bird feeders with the number of sightings by Kruskal-Wallis Test (H = 0.164, p > 0.05). Threat of predators, human activities and disturbances, abundance of food in the mangrove and the types and quality of food provided were found to influence the attraction of birds to the bird feeders.