Bird Assemblages on Gurage Highland Lakes: Patterns of Species Diversity and Composition

The study investigated the role of highland lakes in conserving avian fauna in the Gurage highland, south‐central Ethiopia. The study was carried out from January 2022 to October 2022 by considering dry and wet seasons. The transect lines are designed purposively at the shoreline of the lake by moving around the lake. Using ArcGIS, a total of 15 sampling line transects were employed to cover the study area. Of them, nine were used in Lake Arekit and six were used in Lake Bojebar. The data were collected early in the morning, from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m., and late in the afternoon, from 3:00 to 6.30 p.m., when birds are more active. Free R software was used for data analysis. A total of 98 bird species were identified in the study area during the dry and wet season surveys. The Egyptian geese are an abundant species next to the blue‐winged goose compared to other bird species. Variations in the number of bird species were observed between the two lakes. Two lakes have significant differences in species richness ( p = 0.001) in all sensitivity levels (0, 1, and 2, which indicate Chao1–richness, Chao1–Shannon, and Chao1–Simpson). During the dry season, Arekit Lake was the richest (69), and Bojebar Lake (31) had the lowest number of bird species. There was no significant difference in species’ relative abundance among the two sites, either when seasons were considered separately (dry season: χ 2 = 0.589, df = 3, p = 0.899; wet season: χ 2 = 0.269, df = 3, p = 0.966). During the wet season, the number of bird species ranged from 34 to 51, as recorded in Arekit Lake and Bojebar Lake, respectively. The Gurage highland is rich in bird species, therefore meeting the criteria for important bird areas (IBAs). This research output indicates that this study area has great importance for conserving the avian fauna. There is a need for a detailed study of the long duration of biodiversity and other ecological aspects to get exhaustive information.