Baker, E.M.

Baker, N.E.

English

AJOL - African Journals Online

Short communicationsThe Grey-chinned Sunbird Anthreptes rectirostris in TanzaniaBritton (1980) lists this species for Malabigambo Forest in Uganda but not for the contiguous Minziro Forest Reserve (FR) forest in Tanzania. This is surely because Minziro FR was poorly known until the 1980s, not having been visited previously by an ornithologist or serious birder. Several forest species are named in Britton from Bukoba and these surely refer to specimens collected in Minziro on behalf of Thorkild Andersen which have yet to be fully documented (Britton 1978). Carswell et al. 2005 map a geo-referenced record from the Sango Bay forests on the border with Tanzania but no others nearby which suggests a species occurring at a low density. During our first, rather brief, visit in 1984 (Baker & Hirslund 1987), this species was not found. During our longer second visit in July 1987 it was seen only once, at the forest edge and some distance from our ringing site. Insufficient field notes were taken at the time as we were en route to another site. During our third visit, in November 1993, this species was again seen, once at the edge of Kikuru FR on the east bank of the Kagera River opposite Minziro FR (pers. obs.) and once en route to Bukoba (S. Davies, pers. comm.) In October 1998, D. Moyer (pers. comm.) reported a single bird in Minziro FR. This species was not reported during the July 2000 visit to Minziro FR when a further 365 birds of 59 species were ringed (Baker 2000). In June 2011, S. Clarke (pers. comm.) reported this species from Minziro FR and from Katoke Teachers College near Bukoba at 1°39′S – 31°41′E. The latest record is of a pair on 28 January 2018 on the western edge of Minziro FR (Leons Mlawila and pers. obs.). Clearly, it exists at quite low densities throughout this general area, especially at the forest edge. For various reasons none of these records was submitted to the East African Rarities Committee.On 19 July 2016, at least one pair was located along a track inside Minziro FR that we had not previously used. These birds were located by Per and Florence Holmen at 1°02′ S – 31°30′ E. This record has been accepted by the EARC, thus the species can now be formally added to the Tanzania avifauna.Figure 1. Male Grey-chinned Sunbird Anthreptes rectirostris, Minziro Forest, Tanzania, 19 July 2016 (Photo: F. Holmen).70This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.Figure 2. Female Grey-chinned Sunbird Anthreptes rectirostris, Minziro Forest, Tanzania, 20 July 2016 (Photo: F. Holmen).We thank, Stan Davies, Leons Mlawila, David Moyer and Steve Clarke for submitting their records to the Tanzania Bird Atlas, and Florence Holmen for her excellent photographs.ReferencesBAKer, m. 2000. The avifauna of Minziro Forest Reserve, Bukoba District, north west Tanzania. East African Cross-Border Biodiversity Project “Reducing biodiversity loss at cross-border sites in east Africa” Tanzanian Component-URT 97.5.31 UNDP. GEF. FAO.BAKer, n.e. & HirslunD, P. 1987. Minziro Forest Reserve: An ornithological note including seven additions to the Tanzanian list. Scopus 11 (1): 9–12.Britton, P.l. 1978. The Andersen collection from Tanzania. Scopus 2 (4): 77–85.Britton, P.l. (eD.) 1980. Birds of East Africa. EANHS. Nairobi: EANHS.cArsWell, m., Pomeroy, D., reynolDs, J & tusHABe, H. 2005. The Bird Atlas of Uganda. Oxford: British Ornithologists’ Club and British Ornithologists’ Union.N.E Baker and E.M. Baker†P.O. Box 396, Iringa, Tanzania Email: tzbirdatlas@yahoo.co.ukScopus 39(1): 70–71, January 2019Received 26 August 2018Short communications 71

Short communications: The Grey-chinned Sunbird Anthreptes rectirostris in Tanzania

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Short communications: The Grey-chinned Sunbird Anthreptes rectirostris in Tanzania

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