Assessment of Bird Diversity and Abundance from Waste Disposal Sites in and Around Gubre Subcity, Wolkite Town, Southwestern Ethiopia

Waste disposal sites are predominantly used as feeding sites for generalist birds. The main objective of this study was to assess the diversity and abundance of birds from three waste disposal sites in and around Gubre sub city, Guraghe zone in 2017. Data were collected using point count techniques from 6:00−10:00 a.m. in the morning and 4:00−6:00 p.m. in the afternoon for three consecutive days each in three study sites. During this study, a total of 2566 birds belonging to 17 species, 7 Families and 6 Orders were recorded. From the 17 identified species of birds, 11 species each were from site I and III, while the remaining 7 species were recorded from site II. Among the seven identified families, Accipitridae was numerically the dominant family represented with 7 species, while Columbidae and Scopidae were the least dominant families represented with 1 species each. At species level, Hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes manachus) was the most abundant bird species. The total abundance of birds was significant (ANOVA result, p=0.00) difference among the three sites. In general, highest number of individual birds were counted in site I (1210) followed by site III (974) and site II (382). A significant difference in the abundance of birds between morning and afternoon was also observed (ttest, p=0.044). Greater numbers of birds were counted in morning in all study sites (range: 93 in site II and 651 in site I). Site I was found to be with relatively higher value of species diversity (H’=1.2) than Site III (H’=1.01) and Site II (H’=0.90). In the study area, waste collectors, domestic dogs, cats and vehicles were considered as threats for waste dependent birds. More studies are required to make a complete list of available bird species in the study area.