Podoces
Volume:11 Issue: 2, 2016

Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS), Inani Reserve Forest (IRF) and Chittagong University Campus (CUC) are quite different types of habitat for birds but climatic and weather conditions of these areas are more or less the same because they lie on the same subtropical region. A comparative study on the seasonal occurrence of birds was conducted in TWS, IRF and CUC of Bangladesh from January to December 2015. Data were collected through both strip transect samplings and opportunistic findings. Birds were searched in transects of the existing roads, trails, streams and bridle paths. Twenty-three transects were established to record data: 9 in TWS, 7 in IRF and 7 in CUC.A total of 249 bird species belonging to 50 families were recorded during the study period. TWS was found to be the most diversified area (210 species), followed by IRF (187 species) and CUC (182 species). Among seasons, winter was found to be the most diversified season (240 species) in all areas, followed by summer (176 species), post-monsoon (164 species) and monsoon (138 species). Finally, new information on the seasonal occurrence was recorded for 22 species of non-resident birds in Bangladesh.

Concentrations of cadmium, lead, copper and zinc were measured in the liver, kidneys, pectoral muscle and feathers of the Mallard Anas platyrhynchos (N = 16) in Kanibarazan Wetland, northwestern Iran. The concentration of metals was estimated using Varian 220 graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer. The highest mean concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn were observed in the liver at 1.05, 2.37, 10.69 and 59.63 µg g-1 dw, respectively. The lowest mean concentration of Cd, Pb and Zn were found in muscle tissue at 0.46, 0.91 and 20.6 µg g-1 dw, respectively, while the lowest mean concentration of Cu was measured in feathers at 6.44 µg g-1 dw. The concentration of metals follows the sequence: Zn>Cu>Pb>Cd. In this study, heavy metal concentrations in the studied tissues of the Mallard were lower than the background levels.

Several migratory bird species have undergone rapid population decline in recent decades for various reasons. The immediate detection of such declines is necessary to prevent their extinction. One important tool for such detections is long-term monitoring at bird migration count sites, which are often located at migration bottlenecks. Such a bottleneck was recently discovered at Mount Besh Barmag in the Azerbaijan Republic. Studies carried out at this site revealed the passage of an estimated 1.24–1.51 million migrant birds in autumn 2011 and 0.65–0.82 million in spring 2012. Among 278 bird species recorded in these studies, 34 are thought likely to exceed the 1% criterion of the world or flyway populations, making them valuable target species for long-term monitoring programmes. Six of these species are considered by the IUCN Red List as threatened or near threatened. A further 22 globally threatened or near threatened bird species were also observed. The present paper discusses these 28 species focusing on numbers, phenology and suitability for long-term monitoring projects.