On the morning of the 30th, we walked a birding transect with Effitirea, the bird expert at Beza Mahafaly. The transect was 1000 meters long. There are two methods used, one for quantifying species and another for individuals. The first is to stop every 100 m for 5 minutes and note species name of all individuals heard, including any repeats. The second occurs while walking the 100 m, and involves making a list of 10 species heard with no repetition. Once the list is finished, a new one is started. This process continues throughout the entire transect. I thought it was really interesting to see how the data are collected and to learn the Malagasy names of the local birds. I even felt that I could recognize a few of the calls by the end!
