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The Forgotten Bird Islands of São Tomé and Príncipe

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The Forgotten Bird Islands of São Tomé and Príncipe ENDEMISM GONE WILD The forgotten bird islands of São Tomé and Príncipe TEXT BY MARtim MELO & PETER RyAN From the peak of São Tomé on a rare clear day, you can see the entire island below you: precipitous ridges clothed in primary forest, with agricultural land beyond. You can make out the routes taken by intrepid 19th- century naturalists and the places where you have wandered for days, lost in the constant rain. From within, the forest appears infinite, but from above it seems so small. It is almost inconceivable that this tiny area could support 20 endemic bird species. ALEXANDRE VAZ AUGUST THOMASSON RELATIVE TO THEIR siZE, SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCipE ARE THE isLANDS WITH THE GREATEST NUMBER OF ENDEMIC BIRDS GLOBALLY ALEXANDRE VAZ Above The imposing dome of Boné de slands are special places for natural- number of endemic birds globally, with 17 from the Mandara Mountains (along the iven their remarkable number Jóquei (Jockey’s Cap) set against a turgid ists. Their isolation allows unique species confined to São Tomé (857 square Nigeria/Cameroon border) and includes of endemics, São Tomé and tropical sky. The oil palms that cover the species to evolve, often including kilometres in extent), eight restricted to Mount Cameroon. São Tomé, Príncipe and Príncipe rank high on any Af- lower slopes of this small islet off the coast ‘strange’ creatures that are adapted to Príncipe (139 square kilometres) and three Annobón are oceanic islands that have rican birder’s must-visit list. Ly- NIGERIA of Príncipe produce unusually large fruits, islandI life. These peculiarities contributed shared between the two. By comparison, never been connected to the mainland Ging close to the equator, the islands were which are the main food of an endemic significantly to Darwin and Wallace’s un- the Galápagos islands have 22 endemics or to each other, being separated by seas covered in dense rainforest when they were ▲ Mt Cameroon form of Príncipe Seedeater. derstanding of evolution, inspired by the in a land area almost 10 times greater. more than 1 800 metres deep. Although discovered by the Portuguese in the 15th Galápagos and the islands of South-East Only the Hawaiian islands, 20 times larger, Annobón is the smallest (17 square kilo- century. All the endemic birds evolved in Bioko CAMEROON Opposite The São Tomé Oriole is just one Asia respectively. São Tomé and Príncipe, support more endemic birds (30 extant metres) and most isolated island, it still these forests. Extensive areas of the islands ATLANTIC of 20 endemic species confined to the forests two small islands 200 kilometres off the species, plus 19 extinctions in historical supports two endemic bird species, a white- have since been modified by agriculture, OCEAN of São Tomé. Like many island birds, it is less coast of Gabon, are equally fas cinating. times). The Democratic Republic of São eye and a paradise flycatcher. Bioko is the but the rugged terrain has meant that size- brightly coloured than its mainland counter­ The biota of these former Portuguese col- Tomé and Príncipe is the second smallest largest island (2 027 square kilometres) in able tracts of primary forest have been Príncipe EQUatorial parts; this is a female and so is particularly drab. onies is so distinct that their forests consti- country in Africa (after the Seychelles), yet the group, yet it has only two endemics (a preserved. Entering these forests is like GUINEA tute an independent eco-region. Birds are ranks fourth in terms of the number of en- white-eye and a batis) because it was con- stepping into a new world; with a few ex- Gulf of Guinea Previous spread A magnificent male São the most visible component of the unique demic birds. It’s not surprising that each nected to Africa during the last glaciation, ceptions (several African bird species have São Tomé Tomé Paradise Flycatcher glares at the camera species composition and are recognised as island is recognised as a separate Endemic some 11 000 years ago. The four islands been introduced), all the birds encountered after being caught in a mist net. Depicted in important ambassadors for the conserva- Bird Area by BirdLife International. may be quite old, having formed some five here occur nowhere else. In addition to this field guides as a rather drab black flycatcher, tion of the remaining forest, appearing on Together with Bioko and Annobón to 30 million years ago, but genetic studies astonishing endemism, more than 80 per GABON it is amazingly iridescent. And unlike many of the island nation’s coat of arms, stamps (which belong to Equatorial Guinea), São suggest that their 32 endemic bird species cent of the land snails are endemic, as are Annobón the São Tomé endemics, it is not restricted to and currency. Tomé and Príncipe form the Gulf of Guinea are the result of recent speciation events eight reptiles and seven amphibians (which primary forest, but is also found in secondary Relative to their size, São Tomé and islands group, part of a 1 600-kilometre rather than being relict species that went is amazing, given their intolerance of salt growth and farm bush. Príncipe are the islands with the greatest line of volcanoes that extends south-west extinct on the mainland. water). Mammals are well represented 34 SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE AFRICA – BIRDS & BIRDING APRIL/MAY 2012 SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE 35 Mount Cameroon THE DEMISE OF SPEIROPS Speirops Parallel evolution in Gulf of Guinea white-eyes Bioko Speirops he white-eyes (family Zosteropidae) make up a small, homo- Tgenous group allied to the babblers and sylvid warblers. With many island forms, the species-level taxonomy is somewhat con- tentious, but the Handbook of the Birds of the World recognises 98 species in 14 genera. Of these, 74 species are placed in Zoster- Forest White-eye ops, making it the largest bird genus. Only two genera are represented in Africa: some 22 species of Zosterops occur throughout sub-Saharan Africa and adjacent is- lands, and four species of Speirops are confined to a line of volca- noes extending from Mount Cameroon into the Gulf of Guinea. Montane White-eye Speirops are larger than typical white-eyes, have stout bills and lack green or yellow coloration in their plumage. The ranges of the four species do not overlap, with one species occurring on Mount Cameroon and one on each of the three large islands in the Gulf of Guinea: Bioko, Príncipe and São Tomé. Traditionally, the São Tomé Speirops is considered to be closely allied to the Mount Cameroon Speirops and it has been argued African Yellow that the genus evolved on São Tomé, radiating from there to White-eye the adjacent islands and Mount Cameroon. However, recent research by Martim Melo and his colleagues turns these ideas upside down (Molecular Ecology 20: 4953–4967). Evidence from several genetic markers shows that speirops do not constitute a Príncipe White-eye natural group, with the continental forms on Mount Cameroon and Bioko closer to the Forest and Montane white-eyes, whereas ALEXANDRE VAZ the Príncipe and São Tomé speirops make up part of a radiation ONE OF THE MORE STRIKING ASPECTS OF BIRDING ON THE of white-eyes on the oceanic islands in the Gulf of Guinea that is linked to the African Yellow White-eye (see figure). ISLANDS IS WHAT IS MISSING; THERE ARE NO HORNBILLS, This might seem unlikely, given the similarity in structure within Annobón White-eye Speirops. However, the four species of Speirops differ consider- WOODPECKERS, BARBEts, ROBINS OR BULBULS ably from each other (for example, some have eye-rings and others don’t), and their defining character is more one of dif- by bats, including diurnal species that have on islands, whereas large species are ference from the typical white-eyes. They provide yet another evolved in the absence of forest raptors. constrained by the limited space avail- ex ample of parallel evolution, whereby the same morphological São Tomé White-eye Each island also has a shrew, although it is able. There have also been two adaptive traits evolve independently when organisms face similar envir- hard to imagine how these small animals, radiations which until recently have been onments. It remains to be explained quite what has driven the which need to feed every few hours, man- overlooked: one features the islands’ parallel evolution in this case. However, all four species co-occur aged to colonise the islands. Plant variety white-eyes (see opposite), the other the with a typical white-eye, and they characteristically are more is also impressive, with some 200 endemic Príncipe Seedeater and its large cousin, the abundant than their smaller relatives. NIK BORROW flowering plants and the highest diversity São Tomé Grosbeak. The Gulf of Guinea white-eyes join a select group of island São Tomé Speirops Top Trees grow straight and true in the few of ferns in Africa. The São Tomé Oriole has lost most of its birds that have undergone adaptive radiation (others are Darwin’s remaining tracts of primary forest on São Although the endemic birds have relatives’ yellow pigment, lending support finches, Hawaiian honeycreepers, Madagascar’s vangas and, at a Tomé. Fortunately for birders, there are few evolved quite recently, they include many to the hypothesis that sexual selection is much smaller scale, Tristan da Cunha’s finches). In terms of phylo- species confined to the distant canopy. interesting forms, including the world’s reduced on islands. There is also the elu- genetic theory, Speirops can no longer be treated as a separate largest weaver (Giant Weaver), sunbird sive São Tomé Fiscal, the only closed-forest genus.
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