A List of Birds and Their Weights from Saül, French Guiana

Infos Guyane blog gives you information about the period from 23 April to May 1976, J. A. Dick and W. B. McGillivray obtained a reference collection of bird specimens and studied aspects of the natural history and ecology of the avifauna of the Saül area.

In 1977, from 21 January-27 February, W. B. McGillivray with D. J. Brooks returned to Saül to continue the fieldwork. The specimens acquired during the first trip are housed in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Toronto, Canada and those of the second trip in the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas (KU), Lawrence, Kansas.

In 1976, J. A. Dick and W. B. McGillivray set 10, 12-m mist nets in a row in mature rainforest 3 km SE of Saül. The families Apocynaceae, Bursaraceae, Lecythidaceae, Sapotaceae, Leguminosae, Rubiaceae, Anacardiaceae, Moraceae and Arecaceae were conspicuously represented in the rainforest.

Most acquisition in 1976, apart from netted birds, was done along the road to the airstrip or near the airstrip itself. In 1977, mist nets were set up in the same area as in 1976. Also in that year, two nets were placed at heights of 10 and 15 m near a flowering Miconia tree along the airport road.

In addition in 1977, five other nets were positioned along a creek bed in secondary growth 1 km E of the village. Common trees at that site were of the families Euphorbiaceae and Leguminosae.
The rainy season in French Guiana in part encompasses April and May; unstable weather with frequent rain is expected at this time.

During the 1976 field season, Saül received an above average amount of precipitation (40 cm in 21 days).
January and February are transition months between dry and wet seasons. Nevertheless, prior to our arrival heavy rains fell in 1976 in both of these months.

Mist nets were checked at least four times a day from 07:30 to 17:30. After the final daily visit at 17:30 the nets were furled to prevent damage at night by bats. The nets were opened the next morning 1 h prior to the first net check at 07:30.
Between net checks one or two sorties searching for birds were made per day that covered from 3-6 km from the main net set.

We follow the nomenclature of Morony et al. ( 1975) for species and Peters et al. (1934- 1979) for the subspecies.