The Threatened Birds of Liberia
By Benedictus Freeman
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Camera-trap photo of white-breasted Guineafowl in Sapo National Park. Photo credit: Ben Freeman. |
Sapo National Park (SNP) is Liberia’s first and largest national park located within the Upper Guinea forest ecosystem, and holds the second-largest primary tropical rainforest in West Africa. It’s mammal diversity includes the western chimpanzee, red colobus monkey and pygmy hippopotamus, and among its avifauna are the endemic Liberian greenbul and 13 globally threatened species including the Gola malimbe, white-necked picathartes, white-breasted guineafowl and thimneh parrot. The park is managed by Liberia’s Forestry Developmental Authority (FDA) in collaboration with Fauna and Flora International (FFI).
A study was conducted in April, May and June 2014 in SNP and surrounding buffer areas, in southeastern Liberia to survey 17 line transects (31.6 km) for assessing population status and distribution of birds. All transects were walked slowly at a consistent pace between 07:00 and 11:00 am, the active period of bird activity. Data was recorded of all birds seen or heard, along with their perpendicular distances from the transect within 100m. These distances were used to estimate population densities of each species using Distance software, version 4.1. The ratio of standard deviation σ to the mean µ viz. coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated to determine the variability in densities of the following 8 birds in the park and its buffer zone.
Table: Eight globally threatened bird species recorded in Sapo National Park, their density estimates in the park and buffer zone, CV of density estimates and IUCN Red list status.
|
English Name |
Scientific Name |
IUCN Status** |
Density/ha |
|||
|
Sapo NP |
%CV |
Buffer |
%CV |
|||
|
Brown-cheeked Hornbill |
Bycanistes cylindricus |
VU |
0.14 |
44.69 |
0.08 |
24.82 |
|
Gola Malimbe |
Malimbus ballmanni |
EN |
0.74 |
34.7 |
0.65 |
28.69 |
|
Rufous Fishing-owl* |
Scotopelia ussheri |
VU |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Timneh Parrot |
Psittacus timneh |
EN |
0.36 |
65.2 |
0.35 |
26.92 |
|
White-breasted Guineafowl* |
Agelastes meleagrides |
VU |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
White-necked Picathartes* |
Picathartes gymnocephalus |
VU |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Yellow-bearded Greenbul |
Criniger olivaceus |
VU |
2.01 |
25.4 |
0.87 |
41.95 |
|
Yellow-casqued Hornbill |
Ceratogymna elata |
VU |
0.67 |
42.9 |
0.53 |
36.22 |
*Species not recorded on transects but opportunistically encountered. ** VU, Vulnerable; EN, Endangered
In conclusion, the park retains viable populations of at least five of the 13-threatened bird species within the Upper Guinea rainforest, and SNP and its buffer areas likely provides refuge for these species in the region. However, the impacts of human disturbances, especially mining, poses a serious risk to the threatened avifauna in the buffer zone which presently is not well demarcated from the adjacent community lands. Conservation awareness among communities to clear encroachments off the SNP’s buffer areas and demarcation of boundaries are of utmost importance for long term conservation efforts to fructify in Liberia.