Fisheries in the Southern Border Zone of Takamanda - Impact ...

1 Introduction
Birds of Takamanda Forest Reserve, Cameroon
Marc Languy and Francis Njie Motombe
Cameroon, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake
Chad, boasts a varied topography and many habitats. As
a result, the avifauna is particularly rich; 928 species have
been recorded to date (Languy et al. in press). The
Cameroon government and international organizations
realize the need to document and protect the country’s
biological diversity, and a number of field surveys were
conducted from 1999 to 2001 to identify sites of high
biological—particularly ornithological—value in
Cameroon through the Important Bird Area process,
coordinated by BirdLife International and implemented
by the Cameroon Ornithological Club (COC).
Still, the avifauna of Cameroon is poorly known
when compared to countries in eastern and southern
Africa as well as some West African countries. During a
national workshop organized by BirdLife International
and the COC in September 1998, Cameroon’s
Takamanda region and the area west and north of Mamfe
were identified as areas in need of field surveys (COC
1998).
Prior to this study, only a brief survey undertaken by
World Wildlife Fund in 1988 (Thomas et al. 1989) had
been completed in Takamanda vicinity, recording fewer
than 50 species. However, even that short list indicated
the presence of three sub-montane species—Blackcapped
Woodland Warbler Phylloscopus herberti,
Bocage’s Akalat Sheppardia bocagei, and Crossley’s
Ground-thrush Zoothera crossleyi. This sub-montane
component, together with vast areas of lowland forest,
point to potentially high bird diversity at Takamanda and,
possibly, rare or even threatened species. In recognition
of that potential, COC and BirdLife International
proposed in 1998 that Takamanda be considered as an
Important Bird Area; that is, a site of special conservation
value for birds. IBAs are selected using internationally
recognized objective, scientific criteria.
A portion of Takamanda is adjacent to Obudu
Plateau in Nigeria and thus is part of the Cameroon-
Nigeria Mountain range that stretches from Bioko to
Tchabal Mababo and Tchabal Ngandaba and includes
Mt. Cameroon, Rumpi Hills, Mt. Nlonako, Bakossi
Mountains, Mt. Kupé, Mt. Manenguba, and Bamenda
Highlands. This mountain range is well known for its
high degree of endemism in many taxa. For example, 24
species of birds are restricted to this mountain range.
While birds on the ridge are relatively well known,
Takamanda is an outlier that deserves attention.
2 Methods
Chapter 7
The discovery of three sub-montane bird species by
WWF in 1988 prompted us to focus on sampling the
highest altitudes of the Takamanda Reserve and check
whether afro-montane species occur. At the same time,
we recognized that most of the Reserve is covered by
lowland forest (see Sunderland et al. this volume), and a
special effort was made to cover this biome to the extent
possible.
Our primary method of investigation was to walk
slowly in the forest and to remain sitting quietly at
regular intervals to record as many birds as possible,
using binoculars. Fourteen sites were sampled in this
manner (Table 1 and Figure 1), and many species were
identified by their calls or songs. We incorporated the use
of field guides, including plates from Borrow and Demey
(2002), and color copies of selected plates from Birds of
Africa. See Appendix 1 for a list of the species we
recorded.
SI/MAB Series #8, 2003, Pages 95 to 110