Data Zone
Country/territory: Algeria
IBA criteria met: A3 (2001)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 160 ha
Site description (2001 baseline)
The site lies in the Saharan Atlas mountain range, south of the Hauts Plateaux, c.270 km south-east of the city of Oran and 160 km west of the town of Laghouat (which is situated on the edge of the Sahara desert). The site lies within the Djebel Amour mountain chain, which runs north-east from El Bayadh (1,310 m), with many peaks over 500 m. There is no designated protected area in the region and more survey work will be required to define the boundaries of an IBA. The coordinates given are those for the town of El Bayadh itself, but a number of records have been included which in fact derive from the road between El Bayadh and Aflou, c.110 km to the east.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for key species. A ‘small colony’ of Geronticus eremita was reported from the Djebel Amour near El Bayadh in the 1970s and the species continued to breed here into the early 1980s. It has not been recorded since 1988 when there was no evidence of any breeding attempt (S. J. Farnsworth pers. comm., P. Isenmann pers. comm.). Three of the biome-restricted species (Ramphocoris clotbey, Chersophilus duponti and Eremophila bilopha) are unknown from any other IBA in Algeria.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: El Bayadh (Algeria). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/el-bayadh-iba-algeria on 23/11/2024.