The northern part of the South African highveld grassland zone constitutes an EBA, in south-east Transvaal, north-east Orange Free State, western Natal and the eastern Cape, and a few adjacent areas of Lesotho (see p. 324 for map). The restricted-range birds occur in a variety of grassland types (see the botanical analysis of Acocks 1988). The birds of the adjacent Lesotho highlands (EBA 090) occur at higher altitudes in the alpine zone, although there is a partial overlap because Anthus chloris occurs locally in the alpine zone.

The restricted-range species are all highly localized within the EBA. Heteromirafra ruddi occurs in eastern Transvaal, eastern Orange Free State, southern Natal and East Griqualand in the north-east Cape (Hockey et al. 1988), Spizocorys fringillaris occurs in northern Orange Free State and south-east Transvaal (Allan et al. 1983), and Anthus chloris breeds in the north-east Cape, western Natal, eastern Orange Free State, south-east Transvaal and Lesotho, moving lower down in winter. North-Eastern Sandy Highveld (see Acocks 1988) is the most important grassland type in the EBA, as it supports all three species.

This part of South Africa is densely populated, either in sprawling urban centres such as Johannesburg, or in rural settings such as parts of Eastern Cape Province. Much of South Africa's crop farming occurs in these relatively high-rainfall areas and much grassland has been transformed by agriculture, principally maize-farming. Many of the remaining grasslands are subject to overgrazing and uncontrolled burning, or are being destroyed by open-cast coal mining and urbanization. However, commercial afforestation is probably the most critical threat, and is likely to alter vast areas drastically in the next 20 years. This could lead to the extinction of Heteromirafra ruddi, and could affect Anthus chloris significantly, but the range of Spizocorys fringillaris lies slightly to the west of the areas to be afforested so it will not be affected as severely (D. G. Allan in litt. 1993); all three species are considered threatened.

More-widespread threatened birds which occur in the EBA are Southern Bald Ibis Geronticus calvus, Cape Griffon Gyps coprotheres, Blue Crane Grus paradiseus, Wattled Crane Grus carunculatus, Blue Swallow Hirundo atrocaerulea (all classified as Vulnerable), and non-breeding Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni (Vulnerable) and White-winged Flufftail Sarothrura ayresi (Endangered).

Spizocorys fringillaris does not occur within any protected area, and the only protected area with reasonable numbers of Heteromirafra ruddi is Verloren Valei Nature Reserve in the Transvaal, although it also occurs in Nooitgedacht Dam Nature Reserve. Anthus chloris occurs at Verloren Valei and at least three other reserves in South Africa, and in Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho (D. G. Allan in litt. 1993; see IUCN 1992b), but such populations are mostly small (K. Barnes in litt. 1996).

Stattersfield, A. J., Crosby, M. J., Long, A. J. and Wege, D. C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the World. Priorities for biodiversity conservation. BirdLife Conservation Series 7. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Southern African grasslands. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/104 on 27/12/2024.