The Early Successional Stage of Avifauna in an Urban Wildlife Habitat Park

Abstract

Several studies have pointed out that species numbers of birds in newly constructed parks were smaller than those in well established parks. In this study, we clarified the early successional stage of avifauna after development of an urban forest using eight years of data recorded in an urban wildlife habitat park Inochi no mori in Kyoto City. Fifty-two species of birds were recorded in the 0.6 ha wooded area during the eight years. Annual numbers of bird species became stable in 30 or higher by the third year after park construction. Almost all wintering birds that might be expected to have high mobility were recorded by the fifth year after park construction. Almost all members of avifauna supposed to inhabit this wooded area in the breeding season were recorded by the ninth year after park construction. The number of woodland birds species especially in the wintering season were higher than those reported in the same area of natural isolated woods in Kyoto City. The high diversity of fruiting trees introduced and the grassland developed in the wildlife habitat park should improve the number of bird species in wintering season.