THE FEEDING OF BIRDS ON SOLID DUMPS IN LIMBE MUNICIPALITY,SOUTHWEST REGION, CAMEROON

摘要

Solid waste management has become one of the most crucial issues facing authorities in the fast-growing cities in developing countries. However, rubbish dumps constitute appropriate feeding sites for many bird species, serving as stop over sites and a source of food for many species of birds, especially in those altered or heavily human transformed areas. The study of bird urban ecology has recently grown as a research area, because urban environments can, like nature reserves, help to preserve bird species. The main objective of this study was to examine the feeding activity of wild birds on solid-dumps in Limbe municipality. The research area was divided into four zones, north, south, east, and western zone. Four dump-sites were randomly selected from each zone and were visited twice a week for research data collection. Observations were done on the dumps from 6:00am - 6:00pm, and the activities of all the birds were recorded during this period. More so, the ecological conditions like weather type, photo-period, weight estimate of dumps, proximity of dump to residential homes, major dump materials, and the land scape were recorded. This study observed that the activity of Passer griseus (27%) and Ploceus cucullatus (49%) were higher as compared to Ploceus luteolus (4%), Lanius collaries (5%), Corvus albus 8%), Bubulcus ibis (5%), and Pycnonotus barbatus (2%) respectively. Moreover, the study revealed a significance between bird feeding activity on waste type, photo-period, and weather condition, r = 0.170 P=0.013, r = 0.146 P=0.034, and X~2 = 6.343 df=4 P＜0.05 respectively. Additionally, the major solid waste materials on the dump-sites were household waste (68%), market waste (29%), medical waste (2%), and office waste (1%). The implication of birds in recycling tropical pathogens such as salmonella species and related micro-organisms has been documented in many countries, hence, proper waste management strategies needs to be implemented by the authorities to reduce the activity of birds and other vectors.