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Notes on the behaviour, plumage and distribution of the White-tailed Swallow Hirundo megaensis
The White-tailed Swallow Hirundo megaensis is a threatened and poorly known bird endemic to southern Ethiopia, where it is restricted to a small area of Acacia savanna. Despite the paucity of previous nest records, we found 67 nests in the years 2010–14, commonly in village huts lived in by people, and report the first confirmation of nesting (two certain records) in termite mounds. Its nests are small mud cups lined with grass and animal hair, fixed to roof joists and similar to those of its sister species, the Pearl-breasted Swallow H. dimidiata of southern Africa, although it appears to lay larger clutches (3–4 pure white eggs) and breed less frequently, producing one brood in each of its two rain-driven breeding seasons (April–June and October–November). The same nests are reportedly used in these two seasons, presumably by the same pairs. Incubation lasts 16–17 days, with some broods showing clearly smaller chicks and hence presumably asynchronous hatching. Study of nestlings in the hand and museum skins confirmed that juveniles can be determined by their shorter tails, browner heads and frequently also wings, and reduced white in the tail. Although birds are typically seen singly or in pairs, flocks of up to 50, sometimes mixed with other hirundines, can occur. The breeding range appears to be almost identical to that of the Ethiopian Bush-crow Zavattariornis stresemanni but regular sightings of White-tailed Swallows since 2005 at the Liben Plain, 120 km to the east of the core area, suggest that the birds are frequent visitors there.We are grateful to the numerous funding bodies which have supported this research over several years: NERC, RSPB, British Birdfair, African Bird Club, British Ornithologists’ Union, Gesellschaft für Tropenornithologie, Tim Whitmore Zoology Fund, Magdalene College (Cambridge), Cambridge Philosophical Society, and BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme; and especially to Julian Francis. We also thank Robert Prys-Jones at the Natural History Museum (NHMUK) for access to specimens; Les Colley for his photograph used in Fig. 5; Stefanie Rick for her excellent drawings used in Fig. 9; Steve Rooke (Sunbird Tours), Bernard, Willem and Sjoerd Oosterbaan, Simon Busuttil, Merid Gabremichael and Claire Spottiswoode for providing additional information and sightings; Alazar Dakar, Abiy Dange, Birhan Dessalegn, Solomon Desta, Okotu Dida, Ali Guche, Sam Jones, Gufu Kashina, Stuart Marsden, Tesfaye Mekonnen, Samson Zelleke and many others including all the staff of Borana National Park for help with fieldwork; Angela Turner and John Atkins for their services as referees; and the Borana villagers who so kindly allowed us into their homes to study the White-tailed Swallow’s nests and without whose hospitality our knowledge of this species would be much poorer.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from African Bird Club
Current and future distribution of Eucalyptus globulus under changing climate in Ethiopia: implications for forest management
Abstract Eucalyptus globulus is a species endemic to southeastern Australia. It has naturalized non-native ranges in other parts of Australia, Europe, Africa, and the western United States. This study is the first of its kind in Ethiopia to model and map the spatiotemporal distribution of the species using species distribution models (SDMs). A total of 874 occurrence records were used from the online Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database and field observation. Three environmental variables, including terrain, climate, and soil were used to predict the species’ distribution. The terrain, climate, and soil raster grids were resampled to a 200-meter resolution. The Global Circulation Model (GCM) HadGEM3-GC3.1 was used to extract future climate data. This GCM has a good match between the atmospheric and oceanic components showing little drift in its surface climate. Besides, it has the best coverage of Africa. Three climate change scenarios (SSPs 1-2.6, SSPs 2-4.5, and SSPs 5-8.5) were used for predicting suitable habitat of the species. The jackknife test was chosen to assess the importance of each environmental predictor variable. The model’s performance was evaluated using the Area under the Curve (AUC) of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. The model had excellent predictive performance with an average AUC of 0.94. Altitude, rooting conditions, slope, dry-month precipitation, and temperature seasonality are the most important environmental factors in shaping E. globulus distribution. Ethiopian highlands are predicted to be more suitable to the species, but the increase in temperature seasonality may reduce suitable habitat under the high-forcing climate change scenario. Climate change is expected to create more suitable habitats for eucalyptus in the future which may encourage plantations in potential distribution areas. Consequently, ensuring long-term forest health necessitates robust management systems prioritizing native trees and responsible grower or farmer practices