Diurnal Avifaunal Species in the Designated Mangrove Eco-park in Cabadbaran City, Philippines

The Cabadbaran Mangrove Eco-Park (CaME) intends to rehabilitate and establish eco-tourism through nature immersion and birdlife watching. However, baseline assessment of avifauna is lacking. Thus, this study aimed to identify the composition of diurnal bird species present in the designated mangrove eco-park, determine the diversity, dominance and evenness of the mangrove avifauna, and compare the bird species richness in the three sites. A total of 36 avian species representing 24 families and 9 orders were recorded during the study. Among the 373 individuals documented, 181 were found in abandoned fishponds which is 49% of all bird individuals; while C. hybrida, T. stagnatilis, and E. garzetta were the most abundant species. Shannon-Wiener diversity index revealed that mangrove site (H’=2.78) was the most diverse among the three sites which can be attributed to the presence of lush vegetations. Conversely, dominant species were recorded in the abandoned fishponds which were composed of migratory species mostly. There was a significant difference of species richness in mangrove site compared to other sites since species richness was highly influenced by vegetations. Moreover, this study also documented the first scientific record of migratory species in the area, which could be one of the stopovers of migratory species. Henceforth, the es