Gabela akalat  (Sheppardia gabela)

Classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List 2007 (1).

Akalats are small, rather short-tailed robins (3). This akalat, named after the town near which it was discovered, has drab brown plumage, with an indistinct brown breast band, and a contrasting whitish throat and pale belly (2) (3). It has long legs, an upright stance, and a robin-like walk (3). It is thought that the Gabela akalat calls with a soft, deep and mournful ‘tseeo tseeo tseeo tseeo’ (4).

Endemic to Angola (3), the Gabela akalat is known from only a few patches of forest within 40 kilometres of the town of Gabela, in western Angola (2).

The Gabela akalat inhabits the dense understorey of primary and secondary forest. It has also been observed in scrub at the edges of coffee plantations, but is thought to be dependent on more intact forest (2).

The shy Gabela akalat is thought to feed solely on insects, gleaning them from leaves and branches in the forest undergrowth. Almost nothing is known about the breeding biology of the Gabela akalat except birds in a breeding condition have been found in September. This bird often remains motionless for long periods (2).

Prior to 1974, large areas of forest in Angola were lost to the establishment of coffee plantations, but with the start of the civil war, many of the plantations around the Gabela district were abandoned and the forest understorey recovered significantly. With the cessation of hostilities in 2002, pressure on the forest will again increase as demand for agricultural land grows (4). A growth in subsistence agriculture now poses the greatest threat to the Gabela akalat and other forest-dwelling birds of the region (2) (4). In some areas, 20 to 70 percent of canopy trees and all the undergrowth in valley bottoms are being cleared to plant bananas and sweet potatoes. In other areas, up to 95 percent of the forest canopy is being removed to plant cassava and maize (2). In addition, the re-establishment of coffee plantations would also have serious impacts on the Gabela akalat, particularly if varieties that require shade (which thrive beneath the canopy of forests) were replaced by sun-tolerant varieties (which results in the destruction of the forest canopy) (4).

For the duration of the protracted civil war, very little scientific research was undertaken in Angola. Since the war was formally ended in 2002, surveys to determine the Gabela akalat’s population size and distribution could now be carried out (2). Ascertaining the call of this shy bird would be extremely useful in any future surveys that are undertaken; in 2004 a group of scientists first recorded a call emanating from the location of a Gabela akalat, but more work is needed to confirm its repertoire (4). The bird conservation organisation BirdLife International also recommends that the forest at Gabela should be designated as a protected area (2).

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

For further information on shade-grown coffee, and how you can help species such as the Gabela akalat see:

• Conservation International:
  www.conservation.org/FMG/Articles/Pages/starbucks_shadegrown_coffee.aspx

For more information on this and other bird species please see:

• BirdLife International:
  http://www.birdlife.org