Birds of Nyika National Park 1 Tauraco Research Report 8 (2006) An annotated list and life history of the birds of Nyika National Park, Malawi-Zambia by Françoise Dowsett-Lemaire INTRODUCTION The Nyika Plateau is the largest montane complex in south-central Africa, with an area of some 1800 km² above the 1800 m contour – above which montane conditions prevail. The scenery is spectacular, with the upper plateau covered by c. 1000 km² of gently rolling Loudetia-Andropogon grassland, dotted about with small patches of low-canopy forest in hollows. Numerous impeded drainage channels support dambos. These high-altitude Myrica-Hagenia forest patches (at 2250-2450 m) are often no more than 1-2 ha in size, and cover about 2-3% of the central plateau. The highest patch of low scrubby forest is to be found at 2500 m, on the slope of the peak (Nganda Hill, a grassy hill at 2607 m). Only the wet eastern escarpment is extensively forested, with some 34 km² of tall Ocotea-Ficalhoa rain forest from 1700, mostly 1900-2350 m. An equally tall but drier type of rain forest (Olea-Aningeria) reappears on the gentle south-western escarpment (1950- 2250 m), on both sides of the Zambia-Malawi border, but it is rather fragmented. Total forest cover in the park is c. 60 km². Brachystegia (miombo) woodland is the dominant vegetation type on the dry northern escarpment, and below the forest zone in the south-west; tall woodland ascends to at least 2050 m on the western side. Miombo is most extensive in the northern extension of the park (established in 1978) – an area of rugged ter- rain, broken hills and large faulted valleys. The area above 2000 m has never been permanently inhabited by man; the high plateau was gazetted a national park in 1965, after the Forestry Department had established a few small plantations of exotic conifers and Eucalyptus in the 1950s, the main one being at Chelinda Camp. The present park covers 3134 km² in Malawi, in addition to a small section (80 km²) on the Zambian side. The Nyika is an important catch- ment area and contains the source of four large rivers which drain into Lake Malawi, including the North Rukuru, whereas on the Zambian side the Chire stream drains into the Luangwa River. The watershed that forms the international boundary provides the only access route to the Plateau. The main entry gate (at Thazima) is at 1600 m, in miombo, and the exit gate on the way to Nthalire (at Kaperekezi) is at 1500 m; the northern margins of the park (e.g. Uledi) approach 1000 m in altitude, whereas along the eastern escarpment the park’s boundary fluctuates mostly between 1500-2000 m. Famous for its outstanding beauty (well illustrated in Carter 1987), its large numbers of game (includ- ing Eland, Roan Antelope, Zebra and Reedbuck), the Nyika Plateau occupies a unique biogeographical posi- tion within the highlands of Tanzania-Malawi. Several species of orchids (la Croix et al. 1991) and butterflies (Dowsett-Lemaire et al. 2001) are endemic, and at least one amphibian (Critchlow 2001c). The Nyika high- lands are also of considerable conservation importance for several montane bird species of restricted range, some of which are represented by endemic subspecies (see below). Over more than a century, and especially in the last 40 years, the Nyika has been much visited, by explorers, collectors, tourists, researchers; the pres- ent account aims at presenting a summary of the state of knowledge of its rich avifauna, listing all species recorded within the boundaries of the national park. Naturally more importance is given to the better-studied montane species of forest and forest edges for which the Nyika Plateau is such an important refugium. The history of exploration of the Nyika Plateau The first major collection of birds was obtained by Alexander Whyte in June 1896 (Shelley & Sclater 1897): Whyte walked up the eastern escarpment from Livingstonia (then Khondowe) Mission and, after a short rest in Karonga, came back via the northern foothills (passing by Mpanda Mtn). He collected 57 species, of which a significant proportion were from the lower escarpments (e.g. Phyllastrephus cerviniventris, Hypargos niveoguttatus), with altitudes as low as 915-1220 m (3000 or 4000 feet) given for a few species. Specimens of note included the first Lanius souzae in Malawi, and the high montane Nectarinia afra whytei and Serinus striolatus. But it is in June 1895 that the very first specimen had been obtained on the Nyika, of no less than the endemic race of Francolinus levaillantii, by Richard Crawshay, named crawshayi by Olgilvie-Grant (1896). It seems very little was added around the turn of the century: Streptopelia lugens was collected by Tauraco Research Report 8 (2006) 2 Birds of Nyika National Park Alfred Sharpe’s staff in 1902 (Belcher 1930), and C.W. Benson (in Benson & Benson 1977) discovered in the British Museum two specimens of the erratic Creatophora cinerea dating from April 1903. There is no write- up of the species collected by the surveyor John McClounie (Head of Research at Zomba) on his visit in September 1902, but at least the type-specimens of the following races were obtained by him on the eastern Nyika (Shelley 1903): Phyllastrephus flavostriatus alfredi, Cossypha anomala macclounii, Pseudoalcippe abyssinica stictigula and Nectarinia johnstoni salvadorii (renamed nyikensis, as salvadorii was preoccupied). In his account of this journey, McClounie (1903) mentions only one unidentified night bird, evidently (from its song) Caprimulgus poliocephalus, which was formally identified on the Nyika much later, in 1937 (Benson 1940-41). Other montane species mentioned by Belcher (1930) which were discovered at about that time include Apaloderma vittatum (Mwenembwe, Nyamkhowa) and Cisticola nigriloris (Nyamkhowa); Euplectes psammocromius was first collected in September 1902 (Belcher 1930), thus the collector was prob- ably McClounie. One has to wait indeed until Benson’s first visits in November 1937 and again in 1938 (in total about three weeks, including Nyamkhowa Mtn, the eastern escarpment and high plateau) to learn more about the typical high-altitude avifauna. Thus about 90 species are listed (Benson 1940-41): with few exceptions (e.g. Buteo oreophilus, Schoutedenapus myoptilus – discovered much later) the avifauna of the extensive forests of the eastern escarpment was by then basically identified, including the more discreet species such as Alethe fuelleborni, Sheppardia sharpei, Illadopsis pyrrhoptera and Linurgus olivaceus. Most of the characteristic species of high montane grassland and forest ecotones were also found, including Accipiter rufiventris, Mirafra africana nyikae, Hirundo atrocaerulea, Chloropeta similis, Cisticola ayresii, C. nigriloris (but see above), Ploceus baglafecht nyikae. Just before Benson’s own visits, in the mid-1930s, the Reverend W.P. Young (based at Livingstonia) collected a few birds on the eastern escarpment (especially at Nyamkhowa) and this is mentioned in Benson (1940-41). C.W. Benson apparently revisited the Nyika more briefly in September-November 1940, which is when he collected Cisticola njombe and described its song (first under C. lais nyikae, re-identified as C. njombe in Benson 1947-48); Benson (1942) includes another two species from that year. After the war, the Bensons revisited the Nyika in mid-October 1947, obtaining breeding records for half a dozen species (Benson & Benson 1949). The herpetologist Arthur Loveridge then visited the forests of the eastern escarpment in October-November 1948, collecting specimens and breeding data with the help of Jali Makawa (Benson’s collector); these breeding records were written up by Benson (1951), with some other details also given in Peters & Loveridge (1953); Loveridge produced the first record (a specimen) of Tyto capensis. The faunal significance of the Nyika Plateau in a regional context was discussed by Benson (1953). There is then another major gap in the publications covering the Nyika, as very little additional infor- mation was obtained before 1-12 January 1964, when C.J. Vernon, accompanied by C.W. Benson and C.S. Holliday, explored the south-western escarpment, mainly within the small Zambian sector. The first was par- ticularly interested in the breeding ecology of Cisticola (Vernon 1964) and Chloropeta species (Keith & Vernon 1966); other reports of note include the first record and specimen of Sarothrura affinis (Benson & Holliday 1964), and the discovery of Malaconotus multicolor in Chowo forest (Benson & Irwin 1967). C.J. Vernon kept notes on altitudinal distribution of species on the (Zambian) western escarpment, many of those being listed in Benson et al. (1970), but they are now largely superseded by more recent observations. G.S. Keith visited the Nyika in late December 1964 and was the first to report the much-overlooked Schoutedenapus myoptilus, from Chowo (in Keith & Vernon 1969). R.J. Dowsett (1969, 1970) collected on the Zambian side in November 1969 (including the first Zambian specimen of Cryptospiza reichenovii). The 1970s saw quite a regular stream of keen amateur ornithologists from Zambia, such as D.R. Aspinwall, S.G. Madge, T.O. Osborne, E.H. Penry, J.J. Tucker (who was the first to ring birds in Chowo and around the Zambian rest house in 1972). R.J. Dowsett revisited for several weeks in October 1973, December 1975- January 1976, November-December 1977 (then accompanied by the author), during which netting and ring- ing of birds was continued on the Zambian side. Papers updating the status of various migratory and resident species on both sides of the border appeared in the Bulletin of the Zambian Ornithological Society (Aspinwall 1971, Aspinwall et al. 1973, Dowsett et al. 1974). The first annotated list of birds for the high Nyika Plateau (excluding woodland from the lower slopes) was presented by Dowsett (1969); an update was reprinted in 1978, most of the additions being migrants and waterbirds with the notable exception of Buteo oreophilus, discovered over the eastern escarp- ment in 1977 (Dowsett & Dowsett-Lemaire 1979b).