Recent outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases (e.g. Most field biology, animal movement and wildlife health studies are dependent on direct capture and collection of samples from live free roaming animals.

I conclude that birdcall lures can be used in summer and winter seasons to improve mist-net captures especially for studies focusing on gregarious and aggressive passerine species in a sub-tropical African savanna setting. Pycnonotus barbatus, Dryoscopus cubla, Prionops plumatus, Phoeniculus purpureus, Turdoides jardineii and Lamprotornis chalybaeus) and the aggressive Dicrurus adsimilis and Acridotheres tristis. The most responsive birds to audio lures were gregarious species (e.g. Birdcall lure enhanced mist-nets had a constant capture output during the summer season. Conventional passive mist-nets without an audio lure were initially productive but their capture rate subsequently decreased as sampling days progressed. Results suggest that the use of birdcalls does significantly increase the total number of birds caught in both seasons and also increases the diversity of passerine species.

Capture success was compared between passive and birdcall enhanced mist-nets during winter and summer seasons.

I tested the efficacy of using multiple recorded birdcall lures (n = 172 species) to improve mist-net captures at a subtropical African savanna setting. There is a growing need for field biology studies to shift towards increasing efficiency and quality of results while simultaneously decreasing cost in both the researcher’s time and resources. Field research techniques are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the scientific community.

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