Understorey bird species diversity and abundance in three forest types of Semuliki National Park, Uganda

Abstract

Sande, E. 2000. Understorey bird species diversity and abundance in three forest types of Semuliki National Park, Uganda. Ostrich 71 (1 & 2): 64–68.

Semuliki National Park is a rich lowland forest in terms of biodiversity. The bird species list currently stands at 428, of which 31 species occur nowhere else in East Africa. Although the park was severely encroached for agricultural activities, all the encroachers were evicted and many species of birds still survive. A total of 61 species with 1270 individuals were trapped from all the forest types. There was no significant difference in the species diversity between the swamp, mixed and Cynometra forest types. The Little Greenbul, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Slender-billed Greenbul, and Olive Sunbird were significantly more abundant in the mixed forest than in the swamp forest while the arboreal insectivore frugivores, terrestrial insectivores and sallying insectivores were significantly more abundant in the Cynometra than in the swamp forest type.