MAP 4 : The Kibaya Ridge, a barrier to the movement of Ashy Starlings

MAP 4 : The Kibaya Ridge, a barrier to the movement of Ashy Starlings


The high groundjavascript:void(0) of the Crater Highlands flows south through the Mbulu Plateau towards Singida with an offshoot of hills SE through Kibaya on the very edge of the Masai Steppe. This high ground above 1400m is currently (we do not know what the situation was even a few hundred years ago let alone hundreds of thousands of years ago) a significant barrier to the movement of Ashy Starlings and effectively creates 3 isolated populations. In this finer scale map the Kibaya Ridge is seen as an effective barrier but it is possible that further fieldwork in the lower altitude reaches of the ridge will provide evidence of movement, at least seasonally, such as post breeding dispersal. It is also possible, even likely, that historically the range of this bird extended further east around the eastern base of these hills and that the isolation of the NE population is quite recent.