BIRD FAUNA IN SON TRA PENINSULA, DA NANG
Bird fauna in Son Tra peninsula is diverse with 104 species with 41 new recording species in comparison to reporting in 1997. However, hunting activities and tourism development in Son Tra peninsula are now the main impacts on Son Tra birds.
Son Tra Nature Reserve (NR) was officially established in 1989 (according to the Decision No. 2062/QD-UB of Quang Nam – Da Nang old province released on September 12th, 1989) on the basis of the conversion from Son Tra Peninsula Forbidden Forest (according to Decision No. 41-TTG of Prime Minister released on January 24th, 1977). Moreover, Son Tra NR belongs to the Annamite ecological area, one of the 200 priority Eco-regions for conservation, where is home of many unique endangered species.
Previous researches about the fauna of Son Tra NR mainly focused on primates (Van Peenen et al., 1971[33], Đinh Thị Phương Anh, Huỳnh Ngọc Tạo, 2000[2]) such as the Red-shanked douc langur (Pygathrix nemaeus) or the macaca species that reported as hybridization species between long-tailed Macaca (Macaca fascicularis) and Rhesus macaca (Macaca mulatta). Up till now, there has not been any complete research about bird species in Son Tra NR, except in 1997, in their research about general biodiversity, Dinh Thi Phuong Anh et al. introduced the list of some bird species recorded in Son Tra. Researching on bird diversity to add scientific data for fauna database in Son Tra NR plays an important role in wildlife protection, biodiversity conservation, and conservation education, ecological tourism development in this area.
In 2014, the Scientific Research Department of GreenViet cooperated with Master student Truong Quoc Dai of Bio-Environment Faculty of Da Nang University of Education and Training and Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Lan Hung Son of Ha Noi University of Education and Training to implement the research on “Researching about bird diversity and distribution in Son Tra Nature Reserve, Da Nang city”. The research’s results were reported in the Master Thesis of student Truong Quoc Dai and Graduation Thesis of Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong Giang (class 11CTM). Besides, the study was published in Agriculture and Rural Development Magazine in 2014. The objectives of this research are (1) Identifying bird species and distribution along with different habitats of researched areas and (2) Identifying main impact factors bird species and proposing some recommendations in order to sustainably conserve and develop the forest.
After 4 months of conducting a survey in Son Tra NR from July to November 2014, we achieved some results. In which, there are 104 species of bird in Son Tra NR belong to 79 Genus, 43 families, 14 orders. There are 41 new species recorded for researched areas. 80 settled species, 30 migratory species, 20 species that have both settled population and migratory population. 4 important species need to be priority protected including one species recorded in IUCN Red List (2014) and Vietnamese Red List (2007) in VU group (Fairy Pitta (Pitta nympha), and three species protected in group II B of Degree No. 32/2006/ND-CP of Vietnamese Government (Crested serpent eagle, Dollarbird, white-rumped shama thrush). Especially we observed Zebra Dove (Geopelia striata) which previously has not recorded information in Vietnam and also added the newest information of White-bellied sea eagle’s habitat (Haliaeetus leucogaster J.F.Gmelin, 1788) in the central of Vietnam.
Concerning the structure of species composition, the Passeriformes order is the most diverse species in every taxon with 24 families, 58 species. The Coraciiformes order has the second diversity species with 4 families and 7 species. Columbiformes has 8 species even has only one family. There are 4 orders that have only one family including Falconiformes, Strigiformes, Strigidae, and Apodiformes. The highest density to observe birds is in primary forest with 43.5% in total bird observation during research time. The second observation ability belongs to the secondary forest while the lowest observation belongs to coastal line habitat with only 5.9%. The main impacts on birds in Son Tra NR are hunting and trapping activities, deforestation, and tourism development.
Some pictures from the research:
