Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. The site is important for six species of global conservation concern—all have a restricted range, all but one are endemic to Angola, and most are uncommon at the site. Prionops gabela is found only at Gabela and along the road to Muxima, while Sheppardia gabela is virtually confined to the Gabela area. The Angolan endemic Platysteira albifrons has been collected at Quirimbo, just north of Gabela, and is likely to occur in thickets and woodland at lower elevations in the general area. The globally threatened Macrosphenus pulitzeri is highly likely to occur in secondary forest in the south of the region. The site is also important for species of the Guinea–Congo Forests biome and Afrotropical Highlands biome. The forests at Gabela are the only known locality in Angola for Alethe poliocephala, Dyaphorophyia blisseti, Parus funereus, Ploceus insignis and Cryptospiza reichenovii, and are one of the few sites in Angola where Stephanoaetus coronatus is known to occur. Other poorly known species that occur in the forest include Cercotrichas leucosticta and Hylia prasina. Numerous species reach the southern limit of their Angolan distributions at Gabela, including Campethera nivosa, C. caroli, Phyllastrephus albigularis, Neocossyphus fraseri, Muscicapa cassini, Trochocercus nitens, Batis minulla, Illadopsis fulvescens, Oriolus nigripennis and Spermophaga ruficapilla.

The avifauna of the forest includes a surprising number of savanna species (including three of the Zambezian biome)—for example, Kaupifalco monogrammicus, Accipiter badius and Turdus libonyana are present during the dry season. The avifauna is relatively better known than other areas in Angola, but most ornithological fieldwork has been directed towards collecting. A preliminary project on the biology of selected elements of the avifauna of the escarpment in the area has been done (Hawkins 1993).

Site description The site lies on the escarpment zone where an area of about 200,000 ha of impoverished semi-deciduous moist forest (an outlier of Guinea–Congo forest) has the richest array of local endemics bird species in Angola. The rainfall is markedly seasonal, with November–December and February–April the months in which most rain falls. Tree genera in the forest include Ficus, Newtonia, Albizia, Celtis, Ceiba and Pterocarpus. Oil palms Elaeis are common, and epiphytes are abundant on the trees. Although the undergrowth of the forest has been cleared and the forest floor extensively planted with coffee, current coffee production is low, and much of the forested area is relatively undisturbed by human activity. However, valley bottoms in the area are now being cleared by subsistence farmers (Hawkins 1993) and this is a matter for some concern.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Species	Season	Period	Population estimate	Quality of estimate	IBA Criteria	IUCN Category
Guinea Turaco Tauraco persa	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Red-crested Turaco Tauraco erythrolophus	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Red-backed Mousebird Colius castanotus	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Naked-faced Barbet Gymnobucco calvus	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Hairy-breasted Barbet Tricholaema hirsuta	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Yellow-billed Barbet Trachyphonus purpuratus	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Buff-spotted Woodpecker Campethera nivosa	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Brown-eared Woodpecker Campethera caroli	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
White-fronted Wattle-eye Platysteira albifrons	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A2, A3	Near Threatened
Chestnut Wattle-eye Platysteira castanea	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Black-necked Wattle-eye Platysteira chalybea	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Gabela Helmet-shrike Prionops gabela	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A2, A3	Endangered
Monteiro's Bush-shrike Malaconotus monteiri	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A2, A3	Near Threatened
Gabela Bush-shrike Laniarius amboimensis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A2, A3	Endangered
Blue-headed Crested-flycatcher Trochocercus nitens	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Rufous-vented Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone rufocinerea	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Dusky Tit Parus funereus	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Chattering Cisticola Cisticola anonymus	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Bubbling Cisticola Cisticola bulliens	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Buff-throated Apalis Apalis rufogularis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Not Recognised
Yellow-necked Greenbul Chlorocichla falkensteini	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Pale-olive Greenbul Phyllastrephus fulviventris	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
White-throated Greenbul Phyllastrephus albigularis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Yellow-throated Nicator Nicator vireo	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Green Hylia Hylia prasina	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Green Crombec Sylvietta virens	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Brown Illadopsis Illadopsis fulvescens	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Rufous Flycatcher-thrush Stizorhina fraseri	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Kurrichane Thrush Turdus libonyanus	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Gabela Akalat Sheppardia gabela	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A2, A3	Endangered
Angola Cave-chat Xenocopsychus ansorgei	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A2, A3	Near Threatened
Forest Scrub-robin Erythropygia leucosticta	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Carmelite Sunbird Nectarinia fuliginosa	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Superb Sunbird Nectarinia superba	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Vieillot's Black Weaver Ploceus nigerrimus	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Brown-capped Weaver Ploceus insignis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Red-headed Malimbe Malimbus rubricollis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Red-faced Crimson-wing Cryptospiza reichenovii	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Dusky Twinspot Euschistospiza cinereovinacea	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern

Habitats

IUCN habitat	Habitat detail	Extent (% of site)
Artificial landscapes (terrestrial)		2%
Shrubland		12%
Savanna		18%
Forest		67%

Land use

Land-use	Extent (% of site)
agriculture	-
other	-
Notes: Firewood collection.

Other biodiversity Bats that have been collected include the rare Epomops franqueti (Cabral 1989).

Management considerations A protected area of 50 km² in the area was recommended by Huntley (1974b), but was not established (Huntley and Matos 1994). Threats to the avifauna include removal of 20–70% of canopy trees and all the undergrowth in the valley bottoms for planting of bananas and sweet potatoes, while up to 95% of the canopy is removed for planting cassava and maize (Hawkins 1993). Vegetation may be removed by burning. Hunting of small mammals and birds is probably common.

Further web sources of information 

Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) species/site profile. This site has been identified as an AZE due to it containing a Critically Endangered or Endangered species with a limited range.

Click here for more information about the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE)

References Hawkins (1993).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Gabela. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 22/05/2013

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