Waterbird Community in A Plantation Forest of An Industrial Area

Abstract

Waterbird mostly were found in natural wetlands, nesting on mangrove trees. An unusual case was found in a human-made (plantation) forest in an automotive company within an industrial area. The objective of the research was to reveal the species and number of waterbirds that utilized the non-mangrove plantation forest and to record the number of nests and the nest tree preference. Waterbird census was conducted in June and July 2017 (beginning of rainy season) by direct total count of all individuals in the late afternoon (4-6pm). Waterbirds were able to use non-mangrove, plantation forest to roost and nest. On average, there were 4,482 individual resident waterbirds in the study area, consisted of 6 species and occupying 1.77 ha of semi-wetland area (inundated during rainy season), with an average roosting density of 9.4 nests/100m2. The dominant waterbird species were Intermediate Egret (30%), Little Egret (20%), and Black-crowned Night Heron (25%). Other observed species were Cattle Egret (15%), Javan Pond-Heron (5%), and Great Egret (5%). Breeding season was in progress and there were 535 active nests. Although the percentage of nests laid on M. leucadendra trees (49.9%) was similar to A. mangium (47.3%), statistical test suggested that M. leucadendra were highly preferred for nesting trees.