IT147
Cape Otranto and Cape Santa Maria di Leuca coast


Country/territory: Italy

IBA criteria met: B1iv, C5 (2002)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here

Area: 8,463 hectares (84.63 km2)

Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli

Site description (2000 baseline)
A rocky area on the coast of south-east Puglia, south of the town of Otranto. Habitats are dominated by pseudo-steppes, garrigue, pastures and cultivated land. Cultivation and stock-rearing are the main land-uses.

Key biodiversity
An important `bottleneck' site for raptors migrating along the Adriatic coast in spring. It is considered that more than 3,000 raptors pass each spring, although there is only incomplete data from one year (1989), when a total of about 1,500 birds were counted, mainly harriers Circus and Pernis apivorus.

Attributes
Raptors MOU - IBA listed under Table 3 of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Cape Otranto and Cape Santa Maria di Leuca coast (Italy). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/cape-otranto-and-cape-santa-maria-di-leuca-coast-iba-italy on 26/12/2024.