SY024
Golan Heights


Country/territory: Syria

IBA criteria met: A1, A4i, A4iv, B1iv, B2 (1994)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here

Area: 60,000 ha

The Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife
IBA conservation status
Year of assessment (most recent) State (condition) Pressure (threat) Response (action)
2014 not assessed medium negligible
For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here


Site description (1994 baseline)
An upland region east of the Hula Valley and Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), ascending to 1,500 m and roughly bounded by Hamat-Gader, Ramat Magshimim, Alonei Habashan, Kuneitra, El Rom and Kazrin. The area is typified by rolling grassland with scattered trees and bushes of Quercus, Styrax, Pistacia, Rubus and Ziziphus, and there are some small pools and reservoirs. Much of the area is cultivated or grazed by cattle, and there is considerable military activity.

Key biodiversity
See box for key species. The region holds good numbers of breeding raptors, with the plateau area around Nahal Gamla, Zavitan and Yehudiya being especially important. Ducks often winter in good numbers, mainly Anas penelope, Aythya ferina and A. fuligula. Stream valleys flowing from the southern Golan into Lake Kinneret were the last refuge of Ketupa zeylonensis in this area, now apparently extinct.

Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals: Spalax ehrenbergi (2n=54), Canis lupus (V), Gazella gazella (V). Reptiles: Elaphe quatuorlineata (endemic). Flora: Phlomis syriaca, Colchicum brachyllum.

Acknowledgements
Data-sheet compiled by S. Blitzblau, reviewed by R. Frumkin.


Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Golan Heights. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/golan-heights-iba-syria on 19/03/2024.