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

Site description (2001 baseline)
The site lies due south of Ferlo North (site SN007) and almost due east of Dakar, separated from the eastern Senegal border with Mali by low hills, the northern outliers of the Bassari hills in the south-east of the country. It is almost contiguous with Ferlo North, separated only by the main road running west–east from Linguère to Matam (on the border with Mali). The altitude, relief, climate and vegetation are very similar to those described above for Ferlo North. However, because it lies further south, Ferlo South receives slightly higher rainfall. The soils tend to be ferruginous and there is more woodland and secondary grassland (especially towards the south of the site) than in Ferlo North.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for key species. Ornis Consult comprehensively surveyed this site, together with Ferlo North (site SN007) for birds for the first time in January to March 1996. A total of 184 bird species are now recorded from the two reserves combined. The site is important for Palearctic migrants, especially raptors on passage or wintering. Circus macrourus is “fairly common wintering in the north down to 15°N” and Falco naumanni is reported as “scarce to frequent” in the area, though not specifically within the reserve. Within the Ferlo South site, the majority of the species restricted to the Sahel biome (A03), and recorded from Senegal, are found (although two of these, Caprimulgus eximius and Anthoscopus parvulus, are recorded in the joint list for both Ferlo North and South Avifaunal Reserves, so it is not clear that they have been observed strictly within the Ferlo South site) (see Table 2). Seven species of Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome (A04) have been recorded from the site (see Table 2). Pelecanus onocrotalus was reported in 1989 in ‘the southern Ferlo’ in numbers which exceeded the IBA threshold for this species (1,450, Baillon pers. comm.). However, there is no permanent watercourse or standing water in the area and it is not clear whether this record was a single unusual occurrence (for example, following rainfall creating a temporary wetland).

Non-bird biodiversity: No specific details are available, but it is likely that the Sahelian species occurring in Ferlo North (site SN007) will also occur in the northern part of Ferlo South, although all these species have been heavily hunted and any remaining populations are likely to be small and threatened.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ferlo South (Senegal). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ferlo-south-iba-senegal on 23/12/2024.