Short notes: African Broadbill Smithornis capensis as a resident in Soutpansberg, Northern Province, South Africa

1 Pages·2002·0.69 MB·

by  Craig T Symes

Short Notes
African Broadbill Smithornis capensis as a resident in
Soutpansberg, Northern Province, South Africa
Craig T. Symef andSarahM. VenteC
L’Eurylaime du Cap Smithorniscapensisa recemment ete decouvert dans le Soutpansberg, Province
duNord,AfriqueduSud,ouilpourraitnichercommehoted’ete.Desobservationsrecentes,faitesdans
uneforetpresdeLouisTrichardt, semblentindiquerqueI’especeestresidentedanslaregion. Lestatut
taxonomique de cette population isolee merite d’etre examine.
A w
fricanBroadbillSmithorniscapensis 2iSrecently References
found to occur in the Soutpansberg, Northern 1. Allan, D.G. 2000. African Broadbill Smithornis
Province, SouthAfrica, where itwassuggestedtobe capensis. In: Barnes,K.N. (ed) TheEskomRedData
seasonal. Subsequently, it has been discovered at a Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and
forestnearLouisTrichardt(site3 inSymes&Perrin^) Swaziland. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.
inwinter.On21June2000atleasttwowererecorded 2. Cohen, C. 1997. African Broadbill Smithornis
inRoodewaalforest(23°00’S 30°01’E,whereheardat capensis. In: Harrison,J.A., Allan, D.G., Underhill,
08.00hrs;and23°01’S30°02’E,whereseenandheard L.G., Herremans, M., Tree, A.J., Parker, V. and
at 12.00 hrs). On 10 October 2000 attempts were Brown, CJ. (eds) The Atlas ofSouthern African
vmaardieoustosiltoecs.atAe tmhaelseewiandsivaitdturaalcst,edusoinngonpelaoycbcaacskioant 3. BsGieerrldvdsae.tniVhoounlysF2o,.rJeCsoJth.rayn1nP9er9so9bp.uosrFagol:.rBeiUsrntdpLwuiofbeolidSs—ohuDetWdhAFArferpCioocrant.-.
(08.45hrs),butdidnotcall. On25May2001,another Pretoria: Department ofWaterAffairs &Torestry.
was heard on the south side ofRoodewaal forest, a 4. Keith, S., Urban, E.K. andFry, C.H. (eds) 1992. The
sitewhere ithad not been previously recorded. BirdsofAfrica.Vol4. London,UK:AcademicPress.
ThesedatasuggestthatAfricanBroadbillmaybe 5. Parker,V. 1998. TheAtlasoftheBirdsofSuldoSave,
resident in the Soutpansberg during winter (May- SouthernMozambique. CapeTown:AvianDemog-
June), and thus throughout the year. The forest is raphy Unit.
classifiedasre-growthforesCandthecanopyseldom 6. Symes, C.T. andPerrin,M.R. 2000. Rangeextension
exceeds 10 m. During winter the understorey be- of African Broadbill Smithornis capensis into
comes particularly dry. The bird-species community Soutpansberg,NorthernProvince,SouthAfrica.Bull.
ABC1-. 135-138.
includes those recorded in higher altitude
Afromontaneforestandloweraltitudebushveldand 7. Symes, C.T., Venter, S.M. and Perrin, M.R. 2000.
Afromontane forest avifauna of the eastern
re-growthforestintheregion^. Eurtherresearch into Soutpansberg mountain range. Northern Province.
the status ofAfrican Broadbill here is required^ In South Africa.J. SouthAfr. Forestiy189: 71-80.
addition, the taxonomic status of those in
Soutpansberg, which is separated by 250-300 km ‘’SchoolofBotanyandZoology, University ofXatal. P/
fromthenearestknownpopulation,shouldbeinves- Bag XOl, Scottsville, 3209, KwaZiilu-Xatal. South Af-
tigated.Itispossiblethatanundescribedformoccurs rica. E-mail: [email protected].
here. Otherwise, contrarytothesuggestionthatthey '’DepartmentofWaterAffairs&Forestiy. P/BagX2413.
areofthesubspeciesconjunctu^,itismorelikelythat Louis Trichardt, 0920, Xoithern Province. South Af-
cryptoleucus is involvedk Based on biogeographic rica. E-mail: [email protected].
evidence, this population more likely has affinities
with those occurring to the east and south-east in
Mozambique, Swaziland and KwaZulu-NataP-L
ShortNotes BullABC Vol9Not -63