Bird Diversity of Shizishan Natural Reserve in Chuxiong, Yunnan

In order to understand the bird diversity, an investigation by line transect method and point count method was conducted in August, 2015, January and April 2016 in the Shizishan Nature Reserve of Chuxiong Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Seventy-one bird species were recorded in this survey, but a total of 115 species of birds belonging to 27 families and 10 orders were recorded in the Shizishan Nature Reserve, combining the historical recorded bird species. There are 100 species of birds breeding here, accounting for 87.0% of the recorded birds. According to their distribution and fauna, the 100 species can be divided into three types: 83 species of Oriental species, accounting for 82.0% of the total number of breeding birds, 1 species of Palaeard species (1.0%) and 17 species of widely distributed species (17.0%). Eighty-two percent of the breeding birds were Oriental species, which indicated that the Avifanun in the reserve had obvious Oriental characteristics. The Shannon-wiener index and Pielou index of birds in Shizishan Nature Reserve were 1.4 and 0.23 respectively. The diversity of birds between the 1 800 and 2 000 m altitude zone is the lowest, the diversity between 2 000 and 2 200 m is the highest, and the diversity between the 2 200 and 2 400 m is a median. Compared with the literatures, the number of the Timaliinae and Turdinae in the reserve showed a decreasing trend, which was related to the catch of songbirds since 1988. Compared with the results of the summer preliminary survey in 2015, the number of sunbirds decreased, which was related to the human disturbance of local park construction activities. Finally, it is suggested that the management department of the reserve can make protection schemes according to different bird habits and population numbers in the area, strengthen supervision, prevent poaching, and reduce the impact of human disturbance on bird diversity in this area.