A Bird Community of Lowland Rainforest in New Guinea. 4. Birds of Secondary Vegetation

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Abstract
BELL, H.L. A Bird community of lowland rainforest in New Guinea. 4. Birds of secondary vegetation. Emu 82: 217–224. Birds frequenting a strip of secondary vegetation along a road are compared to those in adjacent forest. Fifteen or more resident species and eleven occasional ones were largely confined to the secondary vegetation. Species of the forest canopy also occurred in the secondary vegetation and foraged at heights different from those in the forest. Catches of birds in nets set at ground level were compared between the forest, the roadside growth and a large area of secondary vegetation 4.5 km distant. Similarity in the composition of the catch was 67% between forest and adjacent roadside vegetation, and 46% between forest and secondary growth. Forest species not present in secondary habitat were mostly small insectivorous passerines. Eleven ‘species-pairs’ occurred with one form largely confined to forest and the other to secondary vegetation.