Beta
386727

Wild Bird Species Structure and Feeding Guilds in Agricultural Area at Zagazig District, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt

Article

Last updated: 24 Dec 2024

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

Bird presence in the agricultural ecosystem is a critical for preserving ecological balance due to its various ecological impacts. The composition of bird species and their feeding guilds in agricultural land was investigated in El-Zahraa village, Zagazig district, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. The point count method was used to survey bird species from April 2021 to March 2022. The survey identified a total of 21 bird species belonging to 17 families and 7 orders. The order Passeriformes was the most abundant; consist of 10 families: Alaudidae, Cisticolidae, Corvidae, Estrildidae, Hirundinidae, Motacillidae, Muscicapidae, Passeridae, Pycnonotidae, Sturnidae. The composition of bird guilds indicated that granivorous and insectivores birds were being more numerous than other guilds (omnivores, carnivores and piscivorous) while, the frugivorous birds was the least represented. The dominant bird species were represented with 5 species: house sparrow, hooded crow, rock pigeon, cattle egret and laughing dove. Food preference experiments conducted on the hooded crow revealed that birds tend to consume Tamia, liver, chicken intestine, and fish in that order. Interestingly, the crows did not consume any amount of crushed maize. Additionally, in terms of color preference, food placed on a blue plastic sheet was favored over food on a red plastic sheet. The abundance of bird species and the diversity of their feeding guilds reflect the richness of food resources in the agricultural area. Furthermore, understanding the food preferences of the hooded crow may assist in utilizing this preferred and cost-effective food (Tamia) as bait to attract and control these birds.

DOI

10.21608/cat.2024.280589.1267

Keywords

Bird diversity, Ecological Balance, El-Zahraa village Feeding guilds, food preference, Granivorous, hooded crow

Authors

First Name

Mohamed

Last Name

Issa

MiddleName

A

Affiliation

Harmful Animal Department, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

Email

mohamedissa011@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

0000-0002-9030-5080

First Name

mohamed

Last Name

El-Bakhshawngi

MiddleName

I.A.

Affiliation

Harmful Animal Department, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

Email

mohamedelbkh@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

0000-0003-0981-3780

First Name

mohamad

Last Name

Abed

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Harmful Animal Department, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

Email

mohamadabed85@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

0000-0002-4487-4768

Volume

32

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

52168

Issue Date

2024-12-01

Receive Date

2024-03-31

Publish Date

2024-12-01

Page Start

73

Page End

81

Print ISSN

1687-5052

Online ISSN

2090-2786

Link

https://cat.journals.ekb.eg/article_386727.html

Detail API

https://cat.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=386727

Order

386,727

Type

Original Article

Type Code

644

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Catrina: The International Journal of Environmental Sciences

Publication Link

https://cat.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Wild Bird Species Structure and Feeding Guilds in Agricultural Area at Zagazig District, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt

Details

Type

Article

Created At

24 Dec 2024