Can surrounding land cover influence the avifauna in urban/suburban woodlands in Japan?

From November 2001 to January 2002, wintering birds were censused in 30 urban woodlands in Chiba City, near Tokyo, Japan, to determine the factors other than habitat area, influencing avian species composition and diversity in urban woodlands. A group of species such as Sturnus cineraceus and Columba livia were more frequently observed in sparser woodlands. These species are not typically categorized as woodland species, and they preferred mixed habitat of tree-covered vegetation and open areas. The birds of another group, including Streptopelia orientalis and Lanius bucephalus, which tend to use tree crowns as foraging habitat were more frequently observed in the woodlands surrounded by agricultural areas rather than in those surrounded by urbanized areas. This could be because those species can move across agricultural areas, but not urban areas, so that the effect of woodland isolation is not very remarkable for them when agricultural areas surrounded woodlands. On the other hand, some species preferred open area to vegetated area. A mixture of open space and woodlands would result in woodlands of reduced value for these woodland birds. Site planning that reduces the degree of interspersion should be adopted, if woodland habitat is to be conserved or restored.