• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
The site, variously known as Ebok-Kabaken, Ebbaken or Ebok-Boje, is a hilly locality in the Boki Local Area of Cross River State, between Afi River Forest Reserve (NG005) and Cross River National Park—Okwangwo Division (NG010). The hill-slopes are covered with tall grasses which reach heights of over 3 m. Forests grow in the valleys between the hills. The Ebbaken community, near which the site is located, comprises nine villages surrounded by the hills. Parts of the forest-edges and grassy hills are cleared and planted with cash-crops (e.g. cocoa, bananas and plantains) or subsistence crops (e.g. cassava, yam and coco-yam).

Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 3 for key species. Over 1 million migrant swallows (mostly Hirundo rustica) are estimated to use the tall grasses of the hills of the area as a regular winter roost. The poorly known Phyllastrephus baumanni has been mist-netted here, one of only two IBAs from which it has been recorded. Picathartes oreas has been recorded in the nearby forests but its status locally is unclear. The locality is thought to be the southernmost in the country for Euschistospiza dybowskii (the one A04 species known).

Non-bird biodiversity: The surrounding community forests are believed to hold populations of primates including Mandrillus leucophaeus (EN) and Pan troglodytes (EN).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ebok-Kabaken (Nigeria). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ebok-kabaken-iba-nigeria on 22/11/2024.