Biodiversity of Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania | Report ...

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Biodiversity of Mahale Mountains National Park Shelley’s Greenbul, Andropadus masukuensis kungwensis This Kungwe endemic was originally described as a subspecies of the Mountain Greenbul, Andropadus tephrolaemus kungwensis (Moreau 1941). Later, after comparison with specimens from the Albertine Rift forests, it was found to be a subspecies of Shelley’s Greenbul, A. masukuensis kungwensis, (Hall and Moreau 1964). The voice and ecology of the endemic Mahale subspecies were unknown and it was know from only a few specimens. Observations on the ecology and voice of Shelley’s Greenbul at Mfitwa, confirm that this is indeed a Shelley’s Greenbul. The call and song were very similar to Shelley’s Greenbul, A. m roehli, from the Udzungwa Mountains in eastern Tanzania. It also foraged by gleaning bark, although not nearly as much as the birds in the Eastern Arc and Mt. Rungwe in the southern highlands. 4.3 DISCUSSION Kabezi had the highest abundance of birds as well as the highest number of contacts per hour. This probably reflects the better visibility in open miombo habitats as much as an actual higher abundance of birds. Many records sightings were made of aerial foraging species, birds of prey and migratory species flying above the transects. Whereas, in forest at Kasonge and Mfitwa, sight records were a relatively small part of the total and vocal records made up the bulk of contacts. Therefore, many of the aerial species were missed, and unless a bird was within 20m or vocalizing, it was not detected in forest. Table 7 Endemic and near-endemic birds recorded from Mahale Mountains National Park and western Tanzania. All endemic taxa at Mahale fall within the ICBP/IUCN Red Data Book classification of Vulnerable and can be grouped under category 9 (Collar et al. 1994). Endemic / Near Endemic birds Aplopelia larvata * (taxon undescribed) Platysteira peltata mentalis Gymnobucco bonapartei cinereceps Erannornis albicauda kivuensis Mesopicos griseocephalus ruwenzori Trochocercus cyanomelas vivax Psalidoprocne pristoptera ruwenzori Dryoscopus angolensis kungwensis * Oriolus percivali Laniarius luhderi luhderi Trichastoma pyrrhopterum pyrrhopterum Onychognathus walleri Andropadus gracilirostris congensis Cinnyricinclus sharpii Andropadus latirostris eugenius Nectarinia olivacea ragazzii Andropadus masukuensis kungwensis * Nectarinia regia anderseni * Phyllastrephus flavostriatus kungwensis * Nectarinia verticalis viridisplendens Alethe poliocephala kungwensis * Ploceus baglefecht stuhlmannii Sheppardia insulana kungwensis * Ploceus bicolor kigomaensis Apalis argentea argentea * Ploceus insignis Bradypterus alfredi kungwensis * Ploceus nigerrimus nigerrimus Phlylloscopus ruficapilla ochrogularis * Spermophaga ruficapilla ruficapilla Platysteira concreta kungwensis * Nigrita canicapilla candida * * Endemic subspecies. Experience on this survey has indicated that mist-netting was not a useful method in adding to the total site lists. The time used for this activity would have been better used for general surveys or conducting additional point counts. That is not to say that mist-netting is not a useful research and monitoring tool but systematic use of this method will depend in large part on the type of information needed and the questions being answered. Wildlife Conservation Society 17
Biodiversity of Mahale Mountains National Park For baseline bird surveys over larger areas of the park, use of point counts is recommended. This will provide a quantitative baseline for bird distribution and abundance in the park on which to base planning for future surveys, monitoring and research. Overall, the bird list for Mahale is the most complete of any of the groups surveyed. The current list of 355 species represents about 80% of the species that are likely to be found in the park. Overall, 1061 bird species are know from the Albertine Rift area (Kahindo-Ngabo 2003). The richest protected in the Albertine Rift system is, Virunga National Park, with a total of 766 bird species. Virunga has an exceptionally high diversity because of extremes of topographical relief and corresponding diversity of habitat types. When the surveys are complete, Mahale will probably rank midway in bird diversity in the 33 Albertine Rift protected areas for which there are reasonable data. However, it is extremely important for conservation of the endemic forms that are found only in Mahale Mountains National Park and forests to the north and east of Mahale (Table 7, Collar et al. 1994). Wildlife Conservation Society 18
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Page 5 and 6: 2. BACKGROUND Biodiversity of Mahal
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Page 39 and 40: Stonechat √ Striped Kingfisher
Page 55 and 56: Monanthotaxis buchananii Monanthota
Page 57 and 58: Baikaea insignis Baphiopsis parvifl
Page 59 and 60: Drypetes natalensis Erythrococca at
Page 61 and 62: Gladiolus erectiflorus Gladiolus gr
Page 63 and 64: †Thecacoris lucida Orchidaceae Ae
Page 65 and 66: Rothmannia longiflora Rothmannia ma
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