Guest blogger: Sarah Sanders, Head of Partner Development Unit - Africa, Asia and UK Overseas Territories
At the beginning of October, my boss had to give a presentation at Kew on the tropical rainforest work we’re supporting around the world. He wanted to speak about the Uluguru mountains because they’re important as a water source to Tanzania, but also because they’re home to plants and animals found nowhere else, including the critically endangered Uluguru bushshrike (UBS). He asked me for a picture and unfortunately I couldn’t help. Despite current estimates suggesting there are 1,200 pairs living in the mountains, there are apparently no photographs available of this elusive bird. I was soon to find out why....
The next day, I headed out to Tanzania. I was lucky to be able to join Nsajigwa Kyanjola (BirdLife Officer for the Wildlife Conservation Society Tanzania) and Jasson John (Species Guardian) as they prepared for a survey of Uluguru South. (Jasson is one of only a handful of Tanzanian ornithologists so it was a privilege to spend the day with him.) The team were trying to find out if there were any UBS living in the south part of the mountains. It was thought that they were restricted to the northern part, but with the creation of the Bunduki gap in 2007 (a corridor that links the north and south forest reserves), and with two pairs discovered in the south in 2010, it was now time to see if the birds had spread.
As a starting point, Jasson suggested we revisit the points where the UBS were previously spotted so we started our trek at Vinile, a small village at 1,200m which is only accessible by a rough dirt road. Our local guides, Gimbe (who preferred to walk without shoes – better grip – I should have followed his advice as I slipped a couple of times) and Jacob took us on a very steep climb through many shambas (small farmers plots) until we entered the reserve at the Bunduki Gap where we were greeted by a very colourful Livingstone’s Turaco. We quickly found ourselves in the montane cloud forest, where you’d expect to find the UBS as it likes to live in the high canopy and avoid disturbed areas as they’re rather shy. The lush forest in the Gap contrasted starkly to the dry, burnt valley we had driven up further downstream. The mist and the ‘prehistoric’ tree ferns at around 2,000m added to the atmosphere too. Fortunately the fact it’s so hard to access has meant the area has been left relatively untouched.
As we walked, we stopped every couple of hundred metres to try and entice the UBS by playing their call. Despite this being the perfect spot for them we didn’t manage to see any. Jasson thought this was probably because it’s just before the breeding season so they haven’t started to call yet. If they’re this hard to see it is wonder there’s no photos! Some other spectacular forest birds made up for the lack of UBS sightings though, including a couple of Loveridge’s sunbirds, also only found in the Ulugurus.
We may not have managed to see a UBS, but the good news is that despite their restricted range, the population appears to be fairly stable. But it doesn’t mean they’re safe. Their biggest threat is probably climate change which could alter the structure of the forest in the future. As the bird depends on trees only found at a certain altitude it can’t go much higher as the vegetation changes.
It looks like I’ll have to keep waiting to see a UBS. Although Nsajigwa and Jasson will continue searching, I’ll be in the office with the project team reviewing how we’re getting on with our DFID funded Ulugurus project. To find out more about the project, click here.
We’re still searching for a photo of an UBS so if anyone has one, please let me know!