A new population of Taita apalis discovered - but deforestation will soon wipe it out

There might be less than 300 Taita apalis left - an incredibly small population. This unique species lives only on top of the highest peaks in the Taita hills of southern Kenya.

A male Taita apalis

With such a tiny number of individuals involved, the discovery of a new population of Taita apalis makes a huge news - even if it consists of just 8 pairs!

In October 2011, we discovered a new patch of forest in a site called Msidunyi, in the eastern part of the Taita Hills, and we observed a small number of Taita apalis in the forest.

Field work during 2012 and 2013, supported by a grant of the Conservation Fund of the African Bird Club, has enabled us to precisely map the territories of the 8 pairs of Taita apalis in Msidunyi. These are shown by the red lines and dots in the map below. As tiny as it might look, the population of Taita apalis in Msidunyi might represent as much as 5-10% of the individuals of the species.

Apalis territories in Msidunyi

 But as we struggle to map the few apalis territories in Msidunyi, deforestation progresses. The human population in Taita is growing fast, and as more people are added, more land is converted in to crops. In the two years that elapsed from our initial discovery to now, almost 20% if the indigenous vegetation in Msidunyi has been damaged or converted. Soon, little will be left there to protect.

Cut logs in Msidunyi, October 2012

Teaching conservation in Kinangop plateau

Dominic Kimani, one of the students who received a fellowship in 2012-2013 has sent me some photos taken in the primary schools of Kinangop plateau, where he has been teaching about conservation and biodiversity to the young pupils.
Kinangop is a vast plateau about 70 km north of Nairobi. It is one of the of the most important sites in Kenya for Sharpe's Longclaw and for several other rare and threatened specie. Unfortunately, Kinangop is also a densely inhabited area, and agriculture is expanding at fast rates - between 2008 and 2013 alone, 25% of the natural habitats have been destroyed and converted to agriculture - and this adds to substantial habitat losses in the previous years.

Field class

Watching a nature film in Purple Hearth Academy

Teaching conservation at Lake Ol Bolossat - Report of the activites

George Muigai just sent me these photos of his work at Lake Ol Bolossat, where he is very active in teaching environmental conservation to the local communities and in the schools. George is receiving support from us for his work in 2013.

In Georges's words:

"Lake Ol’ Bolossat is the only natural lake in Kenya’s Central Province ... the wetland offers a variety of habitat and hosts a wealth of bird species, some of them in very large numbers, others only known to occur in a restricted area of the world ... this wetland is facing threat due to human activities in and around it. One step to achieve a mind of conservation amongst the communities living around is empowering them with information about this lake..."

Starting from  January 2013, I engaged myself in an awareness campaign on the biodiversity value of Lake Ol’ Bolossat ... I visited target school pupils and local farmers on the ground as they move on with their daily livelihood schedule... I gave out copies of a booklet I wrote in Kikuyu language highlighting the importance of birds in people’s life to adults, and a translation of the same book in Kiswahili language to schools..."

Congrats George! Keep doing the good work! 

Invasion!

A Bar-throated apalis in the Taita hills (February 2013). Notice the differences between this species and the Taita apalis

If things were not bad enough for our little friend, the Taita apalis, our recent observations show that the situation is getting even worse.

The Taita apalis is one of the world's rarest birds. It only lives in seven small bits of forest, in the Taita Hills of Southern Kenya. Deforestation in the Taita hills has been savage, and currently no more than 500 ha of forest remain - an area more of less of the same size of Central Park in New York!

Our work already showed that there are probably less than 500 individuals of Taita apalis surviving. But the really bad news is that their range is being invaded by another species, the Bar-throated apalis. The Bar-throated apalis had never been observed in the Taita hills in the past, but in the last year, we have spotted individuals of this species with increasing frequency.

Bar-throated and Taita apalis are closely related, and hybridization between the two is likely to occur. If that will happen, the genetic integrity of Taita apalis might be lost, and the species might rapidly disappear.

We don't know the origin of the Bar-throated apalis invaders that we have observed repeatedly at several locations from the end of 2012 up to now. These birds might come from the West Usambara mountains (120km South of the Taita hills) or from the Chyulu hills (70 km West of the Taita).

We are monitoring the situation closely. Urgent issues to understand is how many pairs of Bar-throated apalis have invaded the Taita hills (so far we observed three, but there might be more), where do they originate, and most of all, if they are able to breed and hybridize with the Taita endemic species.

A male Taita apalis, notice the black throat and no bar on the breast

Paradise in the forest

The journalist Rupi Mangat recently paid a visit to us in our camp site in the middle of the forest in the Mathews Range ... and she was delighted!

You can read her impressions on our study site on the following link. Enjoy (and be envious, maybe...)

http://mobile.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/Paradise-in-the-wilderness/-/1950774/2001024/-/format/xhtml/-/8835cfz/-/index.html

Forest still shrinking in the Taita hills

Lawrence Wagura, one of our students, is in the Taita hills, the last tiny refuge of Taita apalis, one of the rarest birds in the world. Together with Lawrence, and Kenyan ornithologist Mwangi Githiru, we have been working on this species for four years, trying to save its habitat and rescue its population, which we estimate to be between 200 to 300 individuals.

Unfortunately, as human population in the Taita hills increases fast, pressure on the last natural habitats grows. The Taita apalis is particularly at risk, because this species occurs in shrubby habitats along forest edges, which are often the places where cultivated fields encroach.

See below one photo I have just received from Lawrence. This site was occupied by one territory of Taita apalis no more than one year ago, but has been turned into cultivation now. With such a rare species as the Taita apalis, the loss of even a single nesting pair is causing a serious threat to the survival of the species. And this trend does not seem to ease down. Bad news for Taita apalis.

Taita apalis territory transformed into cultivation (photo L. Wagura)

A new batch of students in Ngilai

One of the activities of this blog is to raise funds to sponsor students in the schools of some of the poorest districts of Kenya.

Last year, some of our students in the village of Ngilai, have sucessfully completed their studies at secondary school.

With the collaboration of the village Elders, we have now selected a new batch of students, who will be sponsored throughout their studies.

Congratulations to Damaris, Wilson, Jane and Lydia, may they achieve the best results and contirbute to the future development of their community!

In search of Kenya's endemic birds

Hey! Are you looking for a good place to see the charismatic Sharpe's longclaw, a bird that every birder visiting Kenya would like to see (and often do not...)

Well, read what Kenyan journalist Rupi Mangat wrote after joining us on our recent survey to the Mau Narok grasslands - these are most likely the most important remaining stornghold for this very rare bird, and a very good place to see it!

Here is the link to Rupi's article

A visit to the Taita Hills

Hello all!

Kenyan journalist Rupi Mangat joined us in our recent field trip to the Taita hills, where we are fighting to save the Taita apalis, a bird whose range is smaller than New York's Central Park and whose entire population is less than 150 pairs!

Rupi wrote an article for the East African Magazine, you can read it here

Ecco le proposte per il 2013! (English version below)

Ciao a tutti!

con l'avvicinarsi del Natale, ho preparato una serie di nuove proposte per il 2013. Ebbene sì! anche quest'anno salveremo il mondo, o per lo meno daremo il nostro contributo per renderlo un pochino migliore...

Spero che a tutti voi piacciano queste piccole idee, che proseguono le attività iniziate negli scorsi anni. Anche quest'anno ci concentreremo su studenti delle scuole e dell'università, su specie di animali minacciate, e su piccole attività di commercio ecologico che creano posti di lavoro e contribuiscono a proteggere l'ambiente.

PER DONARE UTILIZZATE IL LINK PAYPAL QUI DI FIANCO (NECESSARIA CARTA DI CREDITO)

1) Borse di studio per studenti delle scuole primarie e secondarie del Samburu District, Kenya. Il Samburu District è una delle regioni più povere del Kenya. Per molti studenti e studentesse, le spese scolastiche sono semplicemente impossibili: troppi ragazzi abbandonano la scuola o non la frequentano perché le loro famiglie non possono permettersele. Propongo di istituire 7-10 borse di studio, di circa 150-200 Euro l'una: questa somma paga le spese scolastiche di un intero anno. Gli studenti saranno scelti dagli anziani dei villaggi, con l'unica richiesta di assegnare il 50% delle borse a studenti dei due sessi.

2) Borse di studio per studenti in collaborazione con i National Museums of Kenya. Il Museo Nazionale del Kenya è l'istituto demandato a studiare e conservare la biodiversità del Kenya. Vogliamo istituire borse di studio annuali per studenti che in collaborazione con il Museo lavorano per la conservazione delle specie animali del loro paese. Sammy Bakari lavora nell'altopiano di Kinangop per conservare l'habitat dell'Uccellino zampagrossa, uno degli uccelli più in pericolo del mondo.  Lawrence Wagura sta cercando di salvare la Taita Apalis, un uccellino la cui popolazione è ridotta a soli 200 individui arroccati in cima una montagna nel Kenya meridionale, dove la deforestazione supera il 99%.

3) Didattica per la conservazione ad Ol Bolossat. George Ndungu è un ornitologo autodidatta che vive ad Ol Bolossat, uno dei siti più importanti per la conservazione dell'ambiente in Kenya. Ol Bolossat è minacciato dall'espansione incontrollata delle attività umane, ed uno dei problemi più gravi è che la gente del posto semplicemente non conosce il valore dell'ambiente e perché sia importante proteggerlo. George ha scritto una proposta per insegnare la conoscenza dell'ambiente nelle scuole di Ol Bolossat. Riusciremo ad aiutarlo finanziando il suo lavoro?

4) Una terra per Njabini! Il laboratorio di filatura e tessitura di Njabini è una piccola cooperativa che contribuisce a salvare le praterie indigene del Kenya creando posti di lavoro in un villaggio dove poche persone hanno un reddito fisso. Dopo anni di lavoro con questo gruppo, abbiamo ottenuto buoni risultati: la qualità dei prodotti e la quantità di lana acquistata sono nettamente cresciute, e il laboratorio ha contribuito a salvare oltre 20 ettari di prateria, che è l'unico habitat di specie minacciate, fra cui il ben noto Uccellino Zampagrossa. Ora siamo pronti per un passo ambizioso: acquistare un pezzo di terra per costruire un nuovo e più moderno laboratorio dove la cooperativa di Njabini potrà espandersi. Durante il 2012, ci siamo dati da fare per individuare diversi appezzamenti di terreno adatti allo scopo. Il 2013 sarà l'anno del grande salto! Vi faremo sapere!

5) The Mbara Community Project. Le scuole di Temow, Chopotwo e Kapsor Schools, Vicino al villaggio di Mbara , nel Kenya occidentale, sono tre scuole elementari dove manca tutto. Niente aule, niente banchi, niente posto per giocare ... Con il mio amico Terry John Hummerston, che da anni lavora in questa zona vogliamo aiutare queste scuole a diventare  un posto dove i piccoli studenti potranno avere una vera educazione. Ce la faremo?