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Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) have been thought as being a sustainable model that can promote wildlife conservation while improving the livelihoods of rural communities. Some WMAs in Tanzania have been found to be species-rich with abundant wildlife communities. Such WMAs include Mbarang’andu and Kimbanda WMAs in southern Tanzania which together with Nalika, Chingoli and Kisungule WMAs form a wildlife corridor that connects Nyerere National Park in Tanzania and Niassa Special Reserve in Mozambique. While the mammalian fauna of the Ruvuma landscape is well documented, the avifauna is comparatively poorly known. From 122 1-km transects, this study reports on the bird species found in miombo woodlands in Mbarang’andu and Kimbanda WMAs. One hundred and fifty-six species were observed of which two are globally threatened and 20 were biome-restricted, suggesting that the miombo woodlands in Mbarang’andu and Kimbanda WMAs are important for the conservation of birds in southern Tanzania. We recommend that further avifaunal surveys focus on less sampled areas in our study, including riverine forests and swampy habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports on the forest avifaunas of Ihang’ana and Idewa Forest Reserves, located on the Udzungwa Plateau, Tanzania, which are undocumented in published literature. Field surveys were conducted between 28 October and 6 November 2020 using the McKinnon species list method. From 185 McKinnon 10-species lists, 40 species were observed in Ihang’ana and 30 in Idewa Forest Reserves, for a combined total of 41 species. Of the species recorded, over 78% (32 species) were forest-dependent birds representative of Eastern Arc Mountains forests. Seven species detected are considered restricted-range species, including Yellow-throated Greenbul Arizelocichla chlorigula, which is endemic to the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. The results suggest that forest birds, including montane species, can survive in isolated areas of suitable habitat even when patch size is small. As such, forests such as Ihang’ana and Idewa forests can still play an important role in the conservation of forest birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest fragmentation can lead to extinctions of some species at local levels and is eroding bird diversity at an increasing rate. While there is information on the distribution of forest bird species in most of the Eastern Arc Mountain forests, some forests, particularly the smaller fragments, have not been adequately surveyed. Using mist netting we surveyed avifauna in some of the poorly known forests (12.5–25 ha) located 320–1 300 m above sea level in the Uluguru Mountains in order to address their conservation importance. Proportions of seasonal altitudinal migrants were significantly higher in these lower-altitude forests during the cold season than the hot season. The results suggest that these forests support bird species of conservation concern, most of which are forest dependent and some of which make seasonal movements between high-altitude montane forests and lowland/ foothill forests. These forests are important cold-season habitat of altitudinal migrants and further fragmentation should be halted as a matter of regional and global priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plantation forests generally support lower bird diversity than natural forests. However, in some instances the plantations have been found to provide suitable habitat for a number of bird species. In the Eastern Arc Mountains, there is limited knowledge how understorey birds, some of which make seasonal altitudinal movements, use plantations. Using mist netting we assessed seasonal use of the plantation forest by the understorey bird community in Bunduki Forest Reserve in the Uluguru Mountains. Species diversity and capture rates were significantly higher during the cold season than during the hot season possibly due to seasonal altitudinal migration by some species. The use of plantations by those species that make seasonal altitudinal movements shows that plantation forests can enhance indigenous biodiversity by enabling connectivity between two or more natural forest patches. Our findings suggest that in a situation where there is no natural forest, an exotic plantation with suitable indigenous understorey cover can help in protection of birds, including endemic and near-endemic species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]