This EBA is located on the eastern edge of the interior of eastern Brazil in south-central Bahia and north-east Minas Gerais states. It is principally a gently rolling elevated region, which marks the continental divide between the wet forests of the Atlantic slope and the arid scrub of Brazil's interior caatinga region (Willis and Oniki 1981). The northern end of the Atlantic forest lowlands (EBA 075) is adjacent to this EBA. Within the rolling topography there are four major rivers: from north to south, Paraguaçu, das Contas, Pardo and Jequitinhonha.

The main habitat is dry deciduous forest, often referred to as 'mata-de-cipó'. The forest is normally less than 10 m in stature, and characteristically has a mid-storey of small trees and bushes covered in bromeliads and vine tangles, and a dense understorey of large terrestrial bromeliads Aechmea, some reaching nearly 2 m tall. In drier areas there are caatinga-like scrub habitats comprising a main tree- and scrub-layer up to 3 m tall, often with terrestrial bromeliads.

Both of the restricted-range species are confined to the dry deciduous forest. Formicivora iheringi forages by gleaning in foliage, along branches and in vine tangles mixed with dead leaves (Tobias et al. 1993, Ridgely and Tudor 1994), while the ground-dwelling Rhopornis ardesiaca prefers areas with a dense layer of terrestrial bromeliads (Willis and Oniki 1981).

Rhopornis ardesiaca has a smaller range than Formicivora iheringi, being restricted to south-east Bahia between the Paraguaçu and Pardo rivers. The majority of the records of F. iheringi are also from areas between these two rivers but its northernmost records are from near Senhor do Bonfim, and it occurs further south in the Jequitinhonha valley in Minas Gerais.

Primary dry forest has been rapidly cleared for cattle pasture in central-southern Bahia, and much of the forest in north-east Minas Gerais and adjacent southern Bahia has been cleared for coffee plantations (Collar et al. 1992). Cleared slopes can be seen all around the vicinity of Boa Nova where both species occur, with natural habitats reduced to scattered fragments mostly on the hilltops (Whitney 1996). The remaining forest patches are highly disturbed by livestock and are also subject to continuous local exploitation of trees for firewood and fenceposts (Collar et al. 1992, Tobias et al. 1993).

With such high levels of forest clearance, both the restricted-range bird species are considered threatened. However, none of the EBA is currently under any official protection, in spite of various calls for the creation of a forest reserve of mata-de-cipó (e.g. Willis and Oniki 1981, Teixeira 1987). It has been suggested that this could be carried out in conjunction with an experimental agricultural station which is needed on the south Bahian plateau because of its distinctive climate and soils (Willis and Oniki 1981), or as a community-level conservation initiative (Whitney 1996). Three Key Areas for the two threatened restricted-range birds have been identified (Wege and Long 1995): Jequié and Boa Nova, both in Bahia, where both species occur, and Almenara in the Jequitinonha valley of Minas Gerais, where only Formicivora iheringi is found.

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: Deciduous forest of Bahia. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/68 on 22/12/2024.