SPESIES BURUNG DI PINGGIR JALAN RAYA DI KABUPATEN ENDE, NAGEKEO DAN TIMOR TENGAH UTARA, NUSA TENGGARA TIMUR

Birds as bio-indicators of environmental quality for flower pollinators, seed dispersal, and natural control of pests in nature, so they are ecologically important. Bird species play an important role both in the forest and those that can be found on the roadside. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of diversity and density of species on the roadside in the districts of Ende, Nagekeo and Timor Tengah Utara (TTU), Nusa Tenggara Timur Province. The method used in collecting bird data is point count. The results showed that the level of species diversity (H') was classified as moderate. The number of species found in all study areas is 55 species in 26 families. The species density in Ende Regency is 0.76 individuals/ha, Nagekeo 0.942 individuals/ha and TTU 0.098 individuals/ha. The evenness value (E) in the three study areas is more than 0.75, meaning that the community is stable for habitats that support the existence of bird species. The high similarity community (IS) in the districts of Ende and Nagekeo (69%) show that the two areas have almost the same species composition for their location on the same island on Flores Island. In contrast, it was found that Ende-TTU and Nagekeo-TTU had low community similarities because they were on two different islands. Protected bird species found during the research were the  white-bellied sea eagle  (Haliaeetus leucogaster), the asian woollyneck (Ciconia episcopus). Two other protected species found although not in the observation plots were the flores hawk-eagle (Nisaetus floris) and the spotted kestrel (Falco moluccensis). The exotic species found is sooty-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus aurigaster). Exotic species can be utilized for utilization activities that are economically as well as ecologically profitable