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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 1750m, 1950m and 2050m 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species richness and relative abundance of montane forest birds in the Udzungwa Mountains are presented for the 11 forests larger than 1 km2. A high positive correlation between the number of montane bird species and the size of the forest is found with the highest species richness recorded in the largest forest. A few small (< 5 km2) forest fragments also support a high richness of forest birds. Their isolation from larger forest tracts is probably relatively recent (within the last 100-200 years) and their high bird species numbers may be partly due to delayed extirpations. Twenty- three restricted range montane forest species were recorded, and many of these were widespread in the Udzungwas. The largest populations of White-winged Apalis Apalis chariessa, Dapple-throat Arcanator orostruthus, Iringa Akalat Sheppardia lowei and Usambara Weaver Ploceus nicolli are most likely in Udzungwa forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rufous-winged Sunbird Cinnyris rufipennis is known only from Udzungwa Mountains in central Tanzania where it occurs in nine montane forests. Based on fieldsurveys between 2011 and 2014, supplemented by observations made by all authors since the early 1990s, we provide a map showing its distribution and relative abundance. We estimate the size of the core areas where Rufous-winged Sunbird is common to c. 120 km^ and the total range to about 200 km^. We also provide data that suggests that breeding takes place during the rainy season from November to February with the breeding area usually centred on a forest glade or tree-fall gap. Finally, we describe observations of presumed lekking courtship display with up to three males assembling in a clearing and excitedly hopping from branch to branch, singing aggressively at each other with a single female observing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]