Further surveys of the miombo woodland avifaunas of Mbarang’andu and Kimbanda Wildlife Management Areas, southern Tanzania

Abstract

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.