Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. The Bvumba avifauna has been well studied for the past 20 years. A total of 242 species has been recorded, including three species of global conservation concern and three restricted-range species, as well as species characteristic of three biomes. The Bvumba is the type-locality for Prinia robertsi and also for three subspecies of forest bird that are endemic to the Eastern Highlands.

Site description The Bvumba Highlands are c.25 km south-east of Mutare and form the central section of the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. The mountains are lower than at Nyanga, and the climate is generally warmer. Mists are common and provide an important source of moisture to the forests. Harwin et al. (1994) define the Bvumba Highlands as being land including and above the 1,200 m contour. This contour was chosen as it is the lower boundary for montane birds. The Bvumba mountains are separated from the next series of peaks in the Banti/Himalaya range by the Burma valley (600 m). The Bvumba drops down to the Chicamba Real Dam and Revue river in Mozambique to the east, and to the Save river valley in the west. Much of the Bvumba consists of privately owned farms and smallholdings. There are large commercial Pinus and Acacia plantations.

The eastern slopes are well forested, while the western sides are drier and merge into Brachystegia woodland. Bare granite cliffs and scree slopes with scattered Strelitzia occur along the edges of some mountains, with the tops covered in short montane grassland. Much of the forest has been disturbed through felling, some as recently as in the 1940s. The largest area is the well-known Bunga Forest, a mist-forest occurring along a mountain ridge. Bunga has been disturbed through logging in the past. Syzygium is the dominant tree in undisturbed parts, giving way to Aphloia, Macaranga and Maesa in regenerating areas. Dracaena is common in the shrub layer. Lower down and in the drier areas, Albizia gummifera and A. schimperiana are the dominant trees. The edges of the forests are surrounded by a dense bracken-briar scrub of Pteridium, Smilax, Buddleia, Vangueria and Vernonia.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Species	Season	Period	Population estimate	Quality of estimate	IBA Criteria	IUCN Category
Striped Flufftail Sarothrura affinis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Scarce Swift Schoutedenapus myoptilus	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Whyte's Barbet Stactolaema whytii	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Olive Bush-shrike Telophorus olivaceus	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Four-coloured Bush-shrike Telophorus quadricolor	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Grey Cuckooshrike Coracina caesia	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
White-tailed Crested-flycatcher Elminia albonotata	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Rufous-bellied Tit Parus rufiventris	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Miombo Tit Parus griseiventris	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Blue Swallow Hirundo atrocaerulea	breeding	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A3	Vulnerable
Briar Warbler Prinia robertsi	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A2, A3	Least Concern
Chirinda Apalis Apalis chirindensis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A2, A3	Least Concern
Stripe-cheeked Greenbul Andropadus milanjensis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
African Scrub-warbler Bradypterus barratti	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Yellow-throated Woodland-warbler Phylloscopus ruficapilla	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Orange Ground-thrush Zoothera gurneyi	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Kurrichane Thrush Turdus libonyanus	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
White-starred Robin Pogonocichla stellata	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Swynnerton's Robin Swynnertonia swynnertoni	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A2, A3	Vulnerable
Miombo Rock-thrush Monticola angolensis	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Plain-backed Sunbird Anthreptes reichenowi	resident	-	present [units unknown]	-	A1	Near Threatened
Miombo Double-collared Sunbird Nectarinia manoensis	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Bronze Sunbird Nectarinia kilimensis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Gurney's Sugarbird Promerops gurneyi	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Red-faced Crimson-wing Cryptospiza reichenovii	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Bunga Forest	Botanical Reserve	495	protected area contained by site	495

Habitats

IUCN habitat	Habitat detail	Extent (% of site)
Forest		100%

Land use

Land-use	Extent (% of site)
agriculture	-
forestry	-
nature conservation and research	-
tourism/recreation	-
water management	-

Other biodiversity The chameleon Rhampholeon marshalli occurs in the Bunga Forest, and several species of regionally rare butterfly occur.

Management considerations Most of the Bunga Forest is protected within the Bunga Forest Botanical Reserve. As with other high-altitude grasslands in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, the Bvumba grasslands are threatened by the invasion of non-native wattle Acacia and pine Pinus trees. This has obvious implications for Hirundo atrocaerulea. There is only a small population of these birds in the Bvumba, so every effort should be made to protect their grassland habitat. The forests on National Parks Estate are well protected, as are most of the forest patches occurring on private land. Regeneration and expansion of the forests are restricted by agriculture and pine and wattle plantations. The mid-altitude forests on the southern slopes down towards Burma valley are all on private land and worthy of protection as botanical reserves. The recent horticultural expansion of Protea plantations has been beneficial to Promerops gurneyi and probably to Nectarinia kilimensis.

References Harwin et al. (1994), Manson (1990), Muller (1994), Pringle et al. (1994).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Bvumba Highlands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 24/05/2013

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