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Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The site lies on the escarpment zone where an area of about 200,000 ha of impoverished semi-deciduous moist forest (an outlier of Guinea–Congo forest) has the richest array of local endemics bird species in Angola. The rainfall is markedly seasonal, with November–December and February–April the months in which most rain falls. Tree genera in the forest include
Ficus,
Newtonia,
Albizia,
Celtis,
Ceiba and
Pterocarpus. Oil palms
Elaeis are common, and epiphytes are abundant on the trees. Although the undergrowth of the forest has been cleared and the forest floor extensively planted with coffee, current coffee production is low, and much of the forested area is relatively undisturbed by human activity. However, valley bottoms in the area are now being cleared by subsistence farmers (Hawkins 1993) and this is a matter for some concern.
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. The site is important for six species of global conservation concern—all have a restricted range, all but one are endemic to Angola, and most are uncommon at the site.
Prionops gabela is found only at Gabela and along the road to Muxima, while
Sheppardia gabela is virtually confined to the Gabela area. The Angolan endemic
Platysteira albifrons has been collected at Quirimbo, just north of Gabela, and is likely to occur in thickets and woodland at lower elevations in the general area. The globally threatened
Macrosphenus pulitzeri is highly likely to occur in secondary forest in the south of the region. The site is also important for species of the Guinea–Congo Forests biome and Afrotropical Highlands biome. The forests at Gabela are the only known locality in Angola for
Alethe poliocephala,
Dyaphorophyia blisseti,
Parus funereus,
Ploceus insignis and
Cryptospiza reichenovii, and are one of the few sites in Angola where
Stephanoaetus coronatus is known to occur. Other poorly known species that occur in the forest include
Cercotrichas leucosticta and
Hylia prasina. Numerous species reach the southern limit of their Angolan distributions at Gabela, including
Campethera nivosa,
C. caroli,
Phyllastrephus albigularis,
Neocossyphus fraseri,
Muscicapa cassini,
Trochocercus nitens,
Batis minulla,
Illadopsis fulvescens,
Oriolus nigripennis and
Spermophaga ruficapilla.
The avifauna of the forest includes a surprising number of savanna species (including three of the Zambezian biome)—for example,
Kaupifalco monogrammicus,
Accipiter badius and
Turdus libonyana are present during the dry season. The avifauna is relatively better known than other areas in Angola, but most ornithological fieldwork has been directed towards collecting. A preliminary project on the biology of selected elements of the avifauna of the escarpment in the area has been done (Hawkins 1993).
Non-bird biodiversity: Bats that have been collected include the rare Epomops franqueti (Cabral 1989).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
A protected area of 50 km² in the area was recommended by Huntley (1974b), but was not established (Huntley and Matos 1994). Threats to the avifauna include removal of 20–70% of canopy trees and all the undergrowth in the valley bottoms for planting of bananas and sweet potatoes, while up to 95% of the canopy is removed for planting cassava and maize (Hawkins 1993). Vegetation may be removed by burning. Hunting of small mammals and birds is probably common.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Gabela (Angola). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/gabela-iba-angola on 22/11/2024.
