1123ca36-1d89-4b36-b398-3b2931fcfcb2 http://ipt.museums.or.ke/ipt/resource?r=events_birds Luc Lens Ghent University Professor

Ghent P.O.Box K.L.Ledeganckstraat 35 BE

Luc.Lens@UGent.be https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801001645320 0000-0002-0241-2215 Hans Matheve Ghent University Database Administrator

Ghent P.O.Box K.L.Ledeganckstraat 35 BE

Hans.Matheve@ugent.be Judith Ochieng A Rocha Kenya Project Coordinator, Department of Science and Conservation

Watamu Malindi P.O.Box 80202 KE

+254 704843754 judith.ochieng@arocha.org Esther Mwangi National Museums of Kenya Research Scientist

Museum Hill Road Nairobi Nairobi P. O. Box 40658 - 00100 KE

+254787596660 ewmwangi@museums.or.ke Maryanne Njambi National Museums of Kenya Data Clerk, Ornithology Section, Zoology Dept.,

Museum Hill Road Nairobi Nairobi 40658 - 00100 KE

+254718374256 njambiwaceke@gmail.com Peter Njoroge National Museums of Kenya Head, Ornithology Section, Zoology Dept.,

Museum Hill Road Nairobi Nairobi 40658 - 00100 KE

pnjoroge@museums.or.ke Judith Ochieng A Rocha Kenya Project Coordinator, Department of Science and Conservation

Watamu Malindi P.O.Box 80202 KE

+254704843754 judith.ochieng@arocha.org Maryanne Njambi National Museums of Kenya Data Clerk, Ornithology Section, Zoology Dept.,

Museum Hill Road Nairobi Nairobi 40658 - 00100 KE

+254718374256 njambiwaceke@gmail.com Peter Njoroge National Museums of Kenya Head, Ornithology Section, Zoology Dept.,

Museum Hill Road Nairobi Nairobi P. O. Box 40658 - 00100 KE

+254724521770 pnjoroge@museums.or.ke Esther Mwangi ewmwangi@museums.or.ke user 2022-12-29 eng The forests of the Taita Hills of south-east Kenya are of great importance to conservation, holding three endemic birds which are listed as critical by Collar et al. (1994) and many other endemic taxa. The forests, which presently cover less than 400 ha, are included in Endemic Bird Area with the Eastern Arc mountains of Tanzania (Stattersfield et al. 1997), with which they have close biogeographical affinities (Lovett 1985). Despite this importance for conservation, few biological studies had been carried out in Taita Hills before 1996 hence the urge of this study. Birds were studied in the remaining forest patches of the Taita Hills from 1996 as part of a wider project to assess the times to extinction of bird species following deforestation. This dataset gives a baseline information on the ringing events of birds at the Taita Hills forests fragments between 1996 and 2016 with 26,360 individual records. Bird ringing was performed in 17 forest patches in Taita Hills including: Chawia, Fururu, Kichuchenyi, Macha, Maghimbinyi, Mbololo, Msidunyi, Mwachora, Ndiwenyi,Ngangao,Njovuni,Ronge,Sagala,Sussu,Vulia,Wundanyi and Yale. Samplingevent Birds Ringing Taita Hills Mist nets Forest patches Conservation GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type_2015-07-10.xml This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License. The bird ringing was done in 17 Taita Hills Forest patches. The Hills lie in south-eastern Kenya at 03°20'S, 38°i5'E, about 150 km inland from the coast and covering an area of about 250 km2. They are isolated from other mountainous areas to the south-east (Shimba Hills), south (Pare and Usambara Mountains), south-west (Mt Kilimanjaro), west (Ngulia and Chyulu Hills) and north-west (Kenyan highlands) by the vast plains of Tsavo (c. 700 m altitude). -180 180 90 -90 1996-07-05 2016-11-08 Birds ringed within the Taita Hills Forest Patches. class Aves order Accipitriformes order Caprimulgiformes order Coliiformes order Cuculiformes order Falconiformes order Gruiformes order Musophagiformes order Culumbiformes order Trogoniformes order Strigiformes order Coraciiformes order Piciformes order Passeriformes family Accipitridae family Columbidae family Strigidae family Trogonidae family Caprimulgidae family Coliidae family Estrildidae family Falconidae family Indicatoridae family Locustellidae family Lybiidae family Megalaimidae family Musophagidae family Nicatoridae family Phylloscopidae family Sarothruridae family Sturnidae family Sylviidae family Viduidae family Zosteropidae family Alcedinidae family Pycnonotidae family Turdidae family Muscicapidae family Monarchidae family Cisticolidae family Platysteiridae family Malaconotidae family Nectariniidae family Ploceidae Taita Hills Forests Fragments are listed as Endemic Bird Area with the Eastern Arc mountains of Tanzania (Stattersfield et al. 1997) hence they are of conservation significance. They are also home to three endemic birds. This dataset is provided to act as a reference point against which to compare current bird's situation in these forests. It will also give a focus for contemporary survey work and management decisions. Raising the profile of data for the conservation of four forested African landscapes project has played a role in unlocking this dataset which has been locked in unpublished reports for many years. Later, this project will create relevant and applicable tools to interpret this dataset hence guiding the conservation work and policy decisions of these forests fragments. unkown Luc Lens Ghent University Professor

Ghent P.O.Box K.L.Ledeganckstraat 35 BE

Luc.Lens@UGent.be https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801001645320 0000-0002-0241-2215 Hans Matheve Ghent University Database Administrator

Ghent P.O.Box K.L.Ledeganckstraat 35 BE

Hans.Matheve@ugent.be At each study site, a narrow trail through the understory vegetation was cleared. Small mesh mist-nets were erected using bamboo poles and operated for two mornings at each site. Nets were opened for four hours each morning starting from between 06:30-07:30 h depending on the weather. The bird ringing was done in Taita Hills (Latitude 3°25´ and 38°20´ longitude) situated in the middle of the Tsavo plains of Taita-Taveta District (17 000 km2) in Coast Province of Kenya. Taita Hills cover an area of 1000 km2.Bird ringing was done in 17 forest fragments including: Chawia, Fururu, Kichuchenyi, Macha, Maghimbinyi, Mbololo, Msidunyi, Mwachora, Ndiwenyi,Ngangao,Njovuni,Ronge,Sagala,Sussu,Vulia,Wundanyi and Yale. The understory birds were captured using mist nets set along paths in each site, ringed, biometrics taken then later released. Species identification and ringing was done on site by a team of bird experts from the Ornithology Section, National Museums of Kenya. Colin Jackson principalInvestigator Judith Ochieng pointOfContact Taita Hills (Latitude 3°25´ and 38°20´ longitude) are situated in the middle of the Tsavo plains of Taita-Taveta county (17 000 km2) in Coast region of Kenya. Taita Hills cover an area of 1000 km2. Taita Hills are surrounded by both western and eastern sections of Tsavo National Park. The town of Voi (population 60 000) is situated on the plains near the border of the eastern section of Tsavo National Park. While the surrounding dry savannah grassland is at an elevation of 700 m, the average height of Taita Hills is 1500 meters, the highest peak being at 2230 meters. The annual rainfall varies from 500 mm in the plains to 1500 mm in the hills. There are two rainy seasons in the area: from March-May/June and October-December. Variability of precipitation from year to year is high, especially in lower altitudes. Great numbers of ecological regions are based mainly on the relief and climatic conditions in the area. Being part of the Eastern Arc, Taita Hills is very valuable and rich in biodiversity and has many endemic mammal, bird, and butterfly species (Bytebier, 2001). The hills were once forested with cloud forest, but nowadays only few larger patches of indigenous forests are left (Beentje, 1988). Less than 400 ha of the original forest now remains, in a scatter of different-sized fragments ranging between 3 ha and 220 ha (Brooks et al. 1998, Lens et al. 1999a). Birds were captured using mist nets set along paths in different sites. The birds captured were removed from the nets where they were ringed using aluminium rings. Measurements of wing, tarsus and the beak, the bird’s weight were taken then the birds were released back to their habitat. Care was taken not to harm the bird during the process. The aim of these surveys sought to assess the conservation status in the Taita Hills of their 47 species of forest birds. 2022-12-07T13:01:26.250+03:00 dataset Lens L, Matheve H, Ochieng J, Mwangi E, Njambi M, Njoroge P (2022): Bird Ringing Data of the Taita Hills Forests, 1996 to 2016. v1.1. National Museums of Kenya. Dataset/Samplingevent. http://ipt.museums.or.ke/ipt/resource?r=events_birds&v=1.1 Stattersfield, A. J., Crosby, M. J., Long, A. J. and Wege, D. C. (1997) Endemic bird areas of the world: priorities for biodiversity conservation. Cambridge, U.K.: BirdLife International (BirdLife Conserv. Ser. No. 7). Lovett, J. (1985) Moist forests of Eastern Tanzania. Swam 8(5): 8-9. Bytebier, B., 2001. Taita Hills Biodiversity Project Report. National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi. 47 p. Beentje, H.J., 1988. An ecologic and floristic study of the forests of the Taita Hills, Kenya. Utafiti 1, pp. 23-66. Brooks, T., Lens, L., Barnes, J. et al. 1998. The conservation status of the forest birds of the Taita Hills, Kenya. – Bird Conserv. Int. 8: 119 – 139. Lens, L., van Dongen, S., Wilder, C. M. et al. 1999a. Fluctuating asymmetry increases with habitat disturbance in seven bird species of a fragmented afrotropical forest. – Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 266: 1 – 6 http://ipt.museums.or.ke/ipt/logo.do?r=isoptera_i 1123ca36-1d89-4b36-b398-3b2931fcfcb2/v1.1.xml