Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. The birdlife of this site is poorly known. Among the more interesting species collected have been Cossypha anomala, Pseudoalcippe abyssinica, Modulatrix stictigula, Andropadus tephrolaemus, A. milanjensis, A. masukuensis, Turdus olivaceus, Zoothera gurneyi and Linurgus olivaceus. Nationally rare birds such as Lagonosticta nitidula and Ploceus xanthopterus approach their northern limits along the Songwe river. Stactolaema olivaceum rungweensis was described from forest near Isoka. Ploceus bertrandi occurs along some of the smaller streams at higher altitudes. Psalidoprocne pristoptera is resident, while Hirundo dimidiata, a rare cold-season visitor from southern Africa, reaches its northern limits in the Umalilas.

Site description The forests and integrated grassland habitat that comprise this IBA are scattered among steep hills north-east of the Songwe river, which forms the international border with Malawi. To the north-east the site is separated from the extinct volcanos of Mount Rungwe and Mpopoto (TZ065) by the Kiwira river valley. This site is somewhat drier than Mount Rungwe, with woodland replacing forest as high as 2,000 m. The area is extensively cultivated with little remaining natural forest cover. The Forest Reserves (FRs) which form the IBA are highly fragmented forest islands: Umalila Catchment Forest Reserve (CFR) (3,796 ha), Mpara CFR (1,048 ha), Kyosa LA-FR (957 ha), Msimwa LA-FR (727 ha), Iyondo LA-FR (973 ha), Ileje Range proposed FR (6,500 ha, only c.50 ha closed-canopy forest) and Kabulo proposed FR (3,500 ha). The IBA also includes several proposed CFRs in Ileje District: Bwenda/Shiringa (1,500 ha), Chabu (3,570 ha), Halembo (264 ha), Membe (5,500 ha), Nalupembe (126 ha), Pimbi (785 ha), Shinji (3,700 ha) and Zuba (1,116 ha).

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Iyondo	Forest Reserve	0	protected area contained by site	973
Kabulo	Forest Reserve	0	protected area contained by site	3,500
Kyosa	Forest Reserve	180,443	protected area contained by site	1,804
Mamboto	Forest Reserve	4,303,756	protected area overlaps with site	1,800
Mpara	Forest Reserve	0	protected area contained by site	1,048
Mwalugulu	Forest Reserve	6,949,970	protected area overlaps with site	250
Sisu	Forest Reserve	189,179	protected area contained by site	1,892
Umalila	Forest Reserve	415,864	protected area contained by site	4,159

Habitats

Land use

Other biodiversity None known to BirdLife International.

Management considerations Many of the steep valley slopes are being cleared and ploughed for agriculture, and trees and other vegetation is being cleared from riverbanks, raising the threat of serious soil erosion.

References Benson (1948), Benson and Benson (1949), Kaminyoge (1992), McKone and Walzem (1994).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Umalila Mountains. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/05/2013

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