Survey of birds in Mdando Forest in the Southern Highlands, Tanzania

Abstract

We conducted an avian survey of Mdando Forest in Tanzania´s Southern Highlands in September and November 2022, and May 2023, using mist nets and opportunistic observations from camps inside the forest at 1750 m, 1950 m and 2050 m elevation. We recorded 61 species which included nine species that previously have not been reported from Mdando, including Black-headed Apalis Apalis melanocephala and Sharpe’s Akalat Sheppardia sharpei. Conversely, we failed to find three forest species that are recorded from Mdando. Of the total of 64 bird species known from the forest, 36 are classified as forest specialists, 24 are forest generalists and four are forest visitors. The forest avifauna included range-restricted species such as Iringa Akalat Sheppardia lowei and Spot-throat Modulatrix stictigula. The non-forested Makambako highlands (the “Makambako Gap”) have often been seen as a faunal barrier separating the Southern Highlands from the more species-rich East Arc Mountains. However, 36 of the 44 montane forest specialists known from the Udzungwa Mountains, the southernmost and closest area of the East Arc Mountains, have now been recorded from Mdando Forest, which shows that there is a large overlap in the montane avifauna on both sides of the Makambako Gap, suggesting a comparatively recent forest connection.