North Somali Mountains

North Somali mountains

	Priority	urgent
	Habitat loss	unquantified
	Knowledge	poor
	Countries	Somalia
	Area	32000 km2
	Altitude	lowland/montane 300 – 2100m

General characteristics This EBA includes several isolated areas of Afromontane vegetation in the higher mountains of northern Somalia (see White 1983), and the rocky coastal escarpment of northern and north-east Somalia. Most of this region has been inacessible to ornithologists for years, and the status of the birds and their habitats are exceptionally poorly known.

Restricted-range species Two of the EBA’s restricted-range bird species are particularly associated with Afromontane habitats in the northern mountains of Somalia: Turdus ludoviciae is locally very common in mountain-top juniper Juniperus forest, and Carduelis johannis is found within juniper forest as well as in the open, rocky areas which lie adjacent to it (Ash and Miskell 1981). The extent of land within their altitudinal ranges is shown on the map by the 1,500-m contour, but within this area juniper forest is highly restricted and localized, and both of these species are known from no more than a handful of sites. Columba oliviae has a more coastal distribution, and usually occurs at relatively low altitudes along both the north and east coasts of Somalia (Ash and Miskell 1983, Collar and Stuart 1985).  Another taxon confined to Afromontane habitats in this EBA which was considered to be a full species by Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), Archer’s Buzzard Buteo archeri, is here treated as a form of the widespread Augur Buzzard B. augur, following Dowsett and Dowsett-Lemaire (1993).

Somali Pigeon (Columba oliviae)	DD
Somali Thrush (Turdus ludoviciae)	VU
Warsangli Linnet (Carduelis johannis)	EN

Threats and conservation All three of the restricted-range species are threatened, Columba oliviae because its limited habitat may be under pressure and Turdus ludoviciae and Carduelis johannis because they are known only from a handful of localities where the remaining juniper forests have been degraded. It is feared that the chronic and continuing political crisis in Somalia may be causing further, but as-yet-undocumented, loss of habitat. According to IUCN (1992b) there are no protected areas within this EBA. Daloh Forest Reserve, just north of Erigavo, is a key site for the conservation of the EBA, but there have been reports of plans to exploit and replant it (Collar and Stuart 1988).

Citation BirdLife International 2003 BirdLife’s online World Bird Database: the site for bird conservation. Version 2.0. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. Available: http://www.birdlife.org (accessed 21/5/2008)  http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/ebas/index.html?action=EbaHTMDetails.asp&sid=92&m=0