PANGANI BASIN WATER BOARD

Box 9: Category 1 Globally threatened bird species of the Usambara Mountains
Critically endangered
• Long-billed Tailorbird (Orthotomus moreaui): not described until 1931 and still a little known species.
Vulnerable
• Sokoke Scops Owl (Otus ireneae): only discovered in 1965 in Kenya’s coastal Arabuko-Sokoke
forest, where it was considered an endemic species until another population was discovered in
the Usambaras in 1995.
• Usambara Eagle Owl (Bubo vosseleri): discovered amongst the Usambara’s lowland forests in
1992, after having been thought of as a low density high-altitude bird previously.
• Swynnerton’s Robin (Swynnertonia swynnertoni): only discovered in the Usambaras in 1990.
• East Coast Akalat (Shepperdia gunningi): discovered in the Usambaras in 1992.
• Dappled Mountain Robin (Modulatrix orostruthus): rarity in the East Usambaras probably as a
result of forest fragmentation.
• Amani Sunbird (Hedydipna pallidigaster): first described by Sclater and famed ornithologist,
Moreau, in 1935, this tiny sunbird is known from just three localities in East Africa. In the
Usambaras, just 320 km 2 of suitable habitat remain (Cheke et al., 2001).
• Banded Sunbird (Anthreptes rubritorques): known from only four localities in Tanzania. Its
largest habitat area is the Udzungwa Mountains.
• Usambara Weaver (Ploceus nicolli): weaver endemic to the Usambaras where, Zimmerman et al.
(1996) estimate, less than 100 remain.
Near-threatened
• Southern-banded Snake Eagle (Circaetus fasciolatus): previously thought a fairly common
resident of coastal forests stretching from northeastern Kenya to northeastern South Africa.
Now considered threatened by human population density and excessive exploitation of forests,
its main habitat. An estimated one pair per 100 km 2 remain within its range (Ferguson-Lees
and Christie, 2001).
• Fischer’s Turaco (Tauraco fischeri): locally common throughout the forest. Threatened by the
international trade in wild birds.
• Plain-backed Sunbird (Anthreptes reichenowi): the race reichenowi an Eastern Arc endemic.
Threatened by deforestation.
Conservation threats and status
The primary threats facing the biodiversity of the Pangani River Basin (PRB) relate to habitat destruction.
The very high levels of endemism typically equate with the high levels of unique and diverse habitat types
in the Basin, particularly its Afromontane and coastal forests. For example, virtually all of the Basin’s
endemic bird species are also considered restricted range species, making them extremely vulnerable to
habitat destruction and fragmentation.
Fears for the destruction of these valuable forest habitats have ensured that Tanzania’s coastal forests
and Eastern Arc Mountains have received international attention. Virtually all of them hold Important Bird
Area (IBA) status (Baker and Baker, 2001), serving to focus international conservation attention on these
delicate and very vulnerable ecosystems. Nevertheless, very few of the PRB’s Eastern Arc or Coastal
forests are anything but forest reserves.
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