This mountainous EBA lies between the Black and Caspian Seas, extending from the southern Russian Federation, through Georgia and Armenia into north-west Iran, and including north-east Turkey and northern and western Azerbaijan. Several mountain ranges are included but the EBA is largely defined by the Greater Caucasus (reaching 5,600 m) and, to the south, the Lesser Caucasus (4,095 m). These mountains support a diverse variety of vegetation types including broadleaved and coniferous forests, montane steppe and woodlands, subalpine and alpine meadows and semi-desert vegetation.

The subalpine and alpine zones are used by all the restricted-range species. Forested habitats close to the treeline are important for Phylloscopus lorenzii, a species which is sometimes considered to be conspecific with the widespread Mountain Chiffchaff P. sindianus of south-west Asia; this view was followed (e.g.) by Sibley and Monroe (1990), but the taxon was subsequently given full species status in Sibley and Monroe (1993) and this treatment is followed here. P. lorenzii breeds in the western Greater Caucasus, most of the Lesser Caucasus and adjacent parts of north-east Turkey, and, in winter, disperses south as far as Iraq.

Habitat loss and deterioration is a major threat in this EBA, with some 50% of forests in the Greater Caucasus being subject to logging, 40% of the subalpine meadows suffering from overgrazing, and semi-desert areas being used as winter pastures for sheep-grazing (WWF/IUCN 1994). Nevertheless none of the restricted-range birds is considered globally threatened as the remoteness of much of the habitat gives natural protection to many areas. Tetrao mlokosiewiczi is, however, judged to be Near Threatened and is treated by Tucker and Heath (1994) as a Species of European Conservation Concern with an unfavourable conservation status. Although the population of T. mlokosiewiczi is numerically strong (c.70,000 birds in the Greater Caucasus and c.500 in the Lesser Caucasus), since the 1930s a slow decline in numbers and some local reductions in range have been detected (chiefly in the southern parts of its range), owing to the deterioration in the suitability of the alpine meadows through overgrazing. Unfortunately there appear to be no data for the last decade because of political unrest in the region.

As well as being important for its restricted-range species, this EBA holds significant breeding populations of raptors (including Lammergeier Gypaetus barbatus, Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus and Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus), and vast numbers also migrate through the area. The Caucasus is also important for supporting the most northerly populations of Caspian Snowcock Tetraogallus caspius and Radde's Accentor Prunella ocularis, the most easterly ones of Krüper's Nuthatch Sitta krueperi, Firecrest Regulus ignicapillus and Short-toed Treecreeper Certhia brachydactyla, and most westerly ones of Güldenstädt's Redstart Phoenicurus erythrogaster and Great Rosefinch Carpodacus rubicilla (R. Potapov in litt. 1996). All these species are treated as Species of European Conservation Concern by Tucker and Heath (1994).

Several Important Bird Areas (IBAs) have been identified for the region (Grimmett and Jones 1989, Magnin and Yarar 1997), and key reserves for Tetrao mlokosiewiczi are listed in Tucker and Heath (1994). The Pontic Alps IBA (12,300 km²) in the Little Caucasus of north-east Turkey covers the Turkish distribution of T. mlokosiewiczi. Overall, some 2% of the Caucasus is protected in c.40 nature reserves, but this network of protected areas needs to be substantially expanded, and existing nature reserves require improved management including the control of grazing levels, disturbance to breeding birds and illegal hunting; it is also necessary to implement wide-scale measures to reduce overgrazing and disturbance throughout the region (Tucker and Heath 1994). In the Turkish part of the EBA there are plans for large dams and virtually every stream in the area has been subject to development plans; large-scale water manipulation schemes could have far-reaching consequences for the natural habitats through flooding, climate change, access roads and construction. In addition, there is already much mining activity (e.g. for copper), and pollution in the vicinity of some of these mines is a major problem (Magnin and Yarar 1997).

Stattersfield, A. J., Crosby, M. J., Long, A. J. and Wege, D. C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the World. Priorities for biodiversity conservation. BirdLife Conservation Series 7. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Caucasus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/87 on 23/12/2024.