SHORT-TERM RESPONSES OF BIRDS TO FIRE IN OLD MOUNTAIN FYNBOS

Abstract

Summary FRASER, M. W. 1989. Short-term responses of birds to fire in old Mountain Fynbos. Ostrich: 60:172-182. Observations of birds were made from six weeks before until one year after a fire in 28-year-old Mountain Fynbos vegetation near Stellenbosch, Cape Province, South Africa. No fire attendance by birds was observed, in contrast to observations made at fires in other southern African vegetation types. Bird species composition in the study site as a whole was virtually unchanged after the fire. With the exception of the density of nectarivorous birds (which decreased), variation in the bird densities of study plots in six vegetation structural formations was considered to be as much seasonal as fire-related.