Journal of Sustainability Science and Management ISSN: 1823-8556 Volume 13 Number 1, June 2018 : 105-118 © Penerbit UMT ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF AVIFAUNA IN PULAU BIDONG, MALAYSIA ABDULMAULA HAMZA1,* GERTRUDE DAVID2, ANUAR MCAFEE3 AND MOHD TAJUDDIN ABDULLAH2 1School of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu 2Institute of Tropical Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu *Corresponding author:
[email protected] Abstract: Avian diversity study focusing on islands in Malaysia is generally scarce compared to the unsurprisingly wealth of information on mainland birds. Similarly, Pulau Bidong is one of these islands with scarce ornithological information. It is located to the northwest of Kuala Terengganu, East Coast Peninsular Malaysia. A series of field surveys were conducted on the island between August 2014 and August 2016, using both point counts and mist netting methods to assess the bird species diversity at coastal area and within the forest canopy of the island. Unpublished data from 2006 were also added as it covers the Bidong trail area. Our results indicate that the total count is 26 species, belonging to 18 families and 23 genera. This species list is not exhaustive because the survey did not cover the main migration season from October to February, when it coincides with the monsoon season and rough weather. Further surveys will be needed to cover the nearby small islands in the archipelago. Keywords: Pulau Bidong, South China Sea. Island, bird diversity Introduction islands have a very important ecological role (Cronk 1997). The state of Terengganu has some Islands have fascinated biologists for a long 17 islands of different sizes and morphology time.