Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
An area dominated by mopane woodland, with some grassland, flood-plain, thicket, mutemwa forest and munga. It covers sections of the mid-Machile, Simatanga, Sichifulo and Sala rivers, though there are very few permanent sources of surface water. The area is bisected by the Livingstone–Mulobezi railway line and there are small villages scattered throughout.
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. This is the stronghold of
Agapornis nigrigenis and supports c.5,500 individuals (over half the known population). Among other species of global conservation concern,
Falco naumanni is a passage migrant and non-breeding visitor, while
Grus carunculatus is a breeding visitor. One species of the Kalahari–Highveld biome (A11),
Lamprotornis australis, occurs at this site.
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals known to occur include Pedetes capensis (VU).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Parts of the site are situated within Game Management Area 8 and two small Local Forests. Desiccation due to climate change has perhaps resulted in a decrease of dry-season surface water upon which
Agapornis nigrigenis depends. There is some small-scale hunting of this species for consumption and perhaps pest-control although, paradoxically, an ongoing reduction in sorghum and millet as crops (in favour of maize) may also be affecting the population negatively. Potential threats to this species include destruction of habitat for firewood and resumption of illegal trade. A detailed four-year study of
A. nigrigenis is being carried out at present, to determine the species’s ecological requirements and devise a conservation strategy for its survival.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Machile (Zambia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/machile-iba-zambia on 22/11/2024.
