PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 18: Avian Ecology.

Thursday, August 7 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.

Seasonal patterns of avian diversity in central Georgia.

Ferrari, James^*,1, ¹ Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia

ABSTRACT- Seasonal trends in bird species diversity in central Georgia were compared at two spatial scales using different sampling techniques. At a 0.26 ha wooded residential area, monthly bird checklists were kept for six years. In addition, arrival and departure dates of seasonal residents and all dates for rare or transient species were recorded. The second site, only 4.8 km away, was a 36 ha portion of a college campus featuring a mixture of forest, field, and aquatic habitats, where two years of weekly timed censuses were conducted. Weekly species richness was determined for each site using the observed bird diversity and by interpolation. The timing of spring and fall migration was virtually identical at the two sites, peaking from mid-April to early May and then again from the middle of September through the first week in October. Bird species diversity was lowest in summer at the residential site, whereas summer diversity at least equaled winter diversity at the campus site; interpolation indicates that species diversity was greater in summer than in winter at the college. Although the timing of peak bird diversity during migration was identical at both spatial scales, diversity of summer residents was highest at the site featuring the greatest diversity of foraging and nesting habitats.

Key words: bird, georgia, diversity