A brief survey of the birds in Kumbira Forest, Gabela, Angola

In January 2004 we conducted a rapid assessment of the avifauna of the Kumbira Forest, situated in the Gabela Important Bird Area (IBA) of the Angolan Escarpment. We recorded 112 species in the Kumbira Forest, four of them globally threatened, and another 46 species in the surrounding area. We report on the breeding activity of 20 species, including the first description of immature Gabela Akalat Sheppardia gabela. We found encouraging numbers of Pulitzer's Longbill Macrosphenus pulitzeri, Monteiro's Bushshrike Malaconotus monteiri, and Gabela Akalat, which was the second most common species captured in mist nets. The Kumbira Forest is home to most of the endemic and threatened bird species known from the Gabela IBA and deserves immediate official protection, detailed research, and community-based conservation.