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Birding Angola Breaking New Ground

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Birding Angola Breaking New Ground Birding Angola BREAKING NEW GROUND n the decade since the civil war in Angola came to an end, the face of the country has changed unrecognisably. now the Ilargest oil extractor in Africa, the nation is experiencing great wealth and unimaginable infrastructure developments to feed this insatiable industry. The focus is on much-needed economic growth, and environment issues have, understandably, taken a back seat. But this may be changing: Angola’s reserve network has been reviewed in recent months and plans for its expansion approved. There is still a long way to go before all the country’s birds are adequately protected, but at least the importance of doing so is now being recognised. TexT by Michael Mills • PhoTograPhs by Dayne braine 42 BIRDING ANGOLA AFRICA – BIRDS & BIRDING REP. OF CONGO Congo democratic Cabinda REPUBLIC OF CONGO Cuango Luanda Cuanza OCEAN Kumbira Forest ATLANTIC ATLANTIC ANGOLA Mount Moco ZAMBIA Zambezi Benguela BAILUNDO Cuito Lubango Kavango Iona NP Kunene NAMIBIA ngola lies at a biogeographical Anyone with a healthy To complete our armchair tour around Above The few pockets of afromontane crossroads. Within its borders Angola’s borders we go finally to the forest at Mount Moco, the country’s highest there are habitats that range measure of good sense, north, where fingers of Congolese hab- mountain, are surrounded by vast areas of from Africa’s driest desert, the itats creep southward to form a mosaic grassland. The total area of afromontane Namib,A to some of the continent’s wettest a thick skin and a sturdy of moist woodland, grassland and forest. forest cover here is a mere 85 hectares, the forests in the Congo Basin. Between these Widespread Congo forest species such as second largest such area in the country. extremes lie expanses of arid savanna as vehicle can drive up from Western Nicator, Swamp Palm Bulbul, well as swathes of miombo woodland that Simple Greenbul and Piping Hornbill oc- Left The rocky outcrops at Tundavala, near blanket most of the inland plateau and are namibia to look for the cur here alongside specialities like Spotted Lubango, are the most accessible site for dissected by floodplain grasslands. There endemic species Thrush Babbler and the striking and near- Angola Cave Chat. are also two highly threatened ecozones endemic White-headed Robin-Chat. that are unique to the country: the west- And let’s not forget the oil-rich enclave Below Most Namibian specials also occur ern escarpment (scarp) forests and the Palm-Thrush. The latter occurs mainly of Cabinda, north of the Congo River, in southern Angola and in fact many of montane grasslands and remnant pockets along the coast and is even often seen in with its extensive and well-developed them have their strongholds here. Benguela of afromontane forest on the Bailundo Luanda’s more leafy suburbs. Congo Basin forest. It is here that Plumed Long-billed Lark can be found on the Highlands. This impressive diversity of Skirting around to the east of the coun- Guineafowl, Forest Francolin, Akun Eagle- coastal gravel plains in the south of the habitats is reflected in the bird fauna, with try, the vast inland plateau is cloaked most- Owl, Black-headed and Rosy bee-eaters country, as far north as the city of Benguela. each environment having its own suite of ly in miombo woodland and grassland and and Rufous-sided Broadbill have been specialist species; together they make up a holds a long list of Central Af rican specials. found, along with a plethora of hard-to- country list exceeding 940. Sharp-tailed is the common starling and oc- identify forest greenbuls. Virtually all the birds regarded as Namib- curs alongside miombo specialists such as ian specialities occur in the south of the Böhm’s Flycatcher, Miombo Scrub-Robin, lthough interesting in their own country, and in some cases Angola is the Black-necked Eremomela, Anchieta’s Bar- right, the habitats described so species’ stronghold. On the arid gravel bet, Red-capped Crombec, Souza’s Shrike far are mere additions to what plains and welwitschia fields of Iona Na- and Pale-billed Horn bill – all species that is really unique about Angola. tional Park (the northern extension of are mainly found north of the southern ATo find any of the country’s 14 endemics Namibia’s Namib-Skeleton Coast National African subregion. Rarer birds include the you have to venture to the mountains and Park) you can see Gray’s and Benguela enigmatic White-winged Babbling Starling, scarp in the west, which together form the Long-billed larks, Burchell’s Courser and the little-known and near-endemic Black- core of the Western Angola Endemic Bird Ludwig’s Bustard, while Damara Terns tailed Cisticola (only in the north-east) and Area. The good news for birders is that the Previous spread, left The iconic Red- breed in the coastal dunefields. Moving Bar-winged Weaver, a species that loves region is reasonably accessible, and any- crested Turaco, one of the Angolan inland and away from the cold Bengue- old-man’s-beard. was recently found to be locally common one with a healthy measure of good sense, scarp endemics, is a noisy but shy forest la Current, slightly less arid acacia and The floodplain grassland and swamps in the far north-east. a thick skin and a sturdy vehicle can drive inhabitant. The best place to see this beauty broad-leafed savanna areas are home to are home to most of the global popula- Another noteworthy habitat in the up from Namibia to look for the endemic is at Kumbira Forest. White-tailed Shrike, Monteiro’s and Da- tion of the Data Deficient Grimwood’s north-east is the more arid plateau grass- species. The bad news is that the patches mara Red-billed hornbills, Rüppell’s Par- Longclaw, as well as several so-called ‘Oka- land on deep Kalahari sands, which ex- of afromontane and central scarp forest Previous spread, right One of Angola’s rot, Bare-cheeked and Black-faced babblers vango specials’, like Hartlaub’s Babbler, tends through the two Congo republics are small and shrinking rapidly. They lie rarest birds: a male Swierstra’s Spurfowl and Carp’s Tit. In rocky sections these spe- Coppery-tailed Coucal and Chirping Cis- to south-eastern Gabon. Here, in the in the moister, more fertile reaches of the sits on a rocky outcrop near afromontane cies are joined by Hartlaub’s Spurfowl and ticola. There are also localised habitat spe- diamond-rich Lunda Norte province, are country, and the widespread use of slash- forest edge. The largest known population Rockrunner, while thickets also host Cin- cialists such as Black-and-rufous Swallow, found the unique Congo Moor Chat, the and-burn farming practices by a burgeon- is at Mount Moco, where there are about derella Waxbill and one of southern Afri- Bocage’s Sunbird and Bocage’s Weaver, as scarce Black-chinned Weaver and the di- ing human population is putting them at 75 pairs. ca’s most sought-after birds, Rufous-tailed well as Chestnut-headed Flufftail, which minutive Dambo Cisticola. great risk. 44 BIRDING ANGOLA AFRICA – BIRDS & BIRDING DECEMBER 2011/JANUARY 2012 BIRDING ANGOLA 45 endemic avifauna. During dry periods the To find any of the country’s Congo Basin forest contracted into the 14 endemics you have to venture to wettest refuges in Central Africa. However, the steeply rising scarp trapped moisture the mountains and scarp in the west, from the nearby Atlantic Ocean, allowing pockets of dry forest to persist on it even which together form the core of the when, at the driest times, the surrounding areas were covered in arid savanna. Western Angola Endemic Bird Area With hundreds of kilometres separat- ing the pockets of scarp forest from the nearest similar vegetation, some resident birds evolved in isolation, slowly chang- ing into unique, endemic species. As the area has become moister in recent times, these dry forests and thickets appear to have spread into adjacent areas along the coastal plain, with the result that species that may have evolved in them, such as Red-backed Mousebird, Pale-billed Fire- finch, White-fronted Wattle-eye, Angola Batis, Golden-backed Bishop and Pale- olive Greenbul, are now more wide- spread. Among the true forest endemics are the striking Red-crested Turaco, the secretive Grey-striped Francolin, the un- obtrusive Gabela Akalat, two dull forest warblers (Pulitzer’s Longbill and Hartert’s Camaroptera) and a quartet of impressive bush- and helmet-shrikes (Gabela, Braun’s and Monteiro’s bush-shrikes and Gabela Helmet-Shrike). These birds are the main from their closest relatives in the Albertine Above The distinctive Angola Cave Chat is reason for birders to visit Angola. Rift, Cameroon Highlands or Eastern Arc one of the country’s endemics, and the only Mountains, they have not changed suf- one to be placed in its own genus. similar scenario of climate- ficiently to be considered species in their influenced fluctuations in hab- own right. Left Angola Lark is one of the near- i tat distribution is thought to Finally, and most significantly, there is endemic birds shared with Zambia and have affected the Bailundo a group of endemic species that have been southern Democratic Republic of Congo. It AHighlands, although the vegetation that isolated long enough to have evolved occurs in grassland on the inland plateau now occurs there may have been more into distinct species. It includes the En- and is common around the base of Mount widespread in cooler and drier epochs. Re- dangered Swierstra’s Spurfowl, a species Moco, where it is most easily located by its peated cycles of warming and cooling, and recorded by fewer than 20 birders, as well melodious song.
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