Winter Bird Communities in Oak and Pine Forests in the South of the Forest-Steppe Zone

This paper presents the results of a study of wintering bird communities in oak and pine forests in the Kharkiv region (North-eastern Ukraine). Research was conducted on the National Park «Slobozhanskyi», located within the Krasnokutsk United Territorial Community of the Bogodukhiv District in 2023-2025 and the National Park «Homilshanski lisy» located within the Zmiiv United Territorial Community of the Chuhuiv District in 2024. The transect-count technique was used for bird sampling. We registered 27 wintering bird species. 12 species of birds were classified as dominant: Aegithalos caudatus, Parus major, Poecile palustris, Sitta europaea, Regulus regulus, Certhia familiaris, Cyanistes caeruleus, Poecile montanus, Dendrocopos major, Bombycilla garrulus, Corvus corax, Lophophanes cristatus. Total diversity varied from 58,1 inds/sq.km to 350,4 inds/sq.km in pine forests and from 100,1 inds/sq.km to 410,9 inds/sq.km in oak forests. No significant differences between habitats, national parks and years in number of species, total community densities and structure of communities.