Road Crossing by Birds in a Tropical Forest in Northern Vietnam

In continuous forests, roads may function as barriers to dispersal by forest wildlife. By testing responses to recorded calls, we compared bird movement over a paved road with movement within forest-interior plots in Cuc Phuong National Park, northern Vietnam, in summer 2007. We focused on two mid-story species, the Striped Tit-Babbler (Macronus gularis) and Rufous-throated Fulvetta (Fulvetta danisi), and two ground-feeding species, the Puff-throated Babbler (Pellorneum ruficeps) and Buff-breasted Babbler (P. tickelli). The probabilities of mid-story species' approaching the recording at the road sites were similar to those at the forest-interior sites. The probabilities of the terrestrial species' approaching the recording were lower at the road sites than in the forest interior. For all species, the delay in response was slightly longer at the road sites than at forest-interior sites. Our results indicate that narrow forest roads may inhibit dispersal by understory birds but are less important barriers for mid-story species.