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The site was identified as internationally important for bird conservation in 2000 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting IBA criteria.

Populations meeting IBA criteria ('key species') at the site:

Species	Red List	Season (year/s of estimate)	Size	IBA criteria
Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius	CR	passage (1993)	present	A1, B2
Eastern Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca	VU	passage (1993)	uncommon	B2

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2000. The most recent assessment (2013) is shown below.

Pressure (threats to the key species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Agricultural expansion and intensification	happen­ing now	most of popul­ation/area (50–90%)	moderate deteri­oration (10–30% in 3 gener­ations)	high

Response (conservation actions taken for the key species and/or their habitats)
Designation	Planning	Action	Result
Whole area of site (>90%) covered by appropriate conservation designation	A compre­hensive and appropriate manage­ment plan exists that aims to maintain or improve the popul­ations of qualify­ing bird species	Not assessed	medium

Year	Protected Area	Designation (management category)	% coverage of IBA
-	Mafraq - Irbid plain	Other Area (-)	100

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Artificial/Terrestrial	major (>10)
Grassland	minor (<10)

Land use	% of IBA
agriculture	major (>10)
rangeland/pastureland	minor (<10)
urban/industrial/transport	minor (<10)

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Important Bird Area factsheet: Irbid - Mafraq plains (Jordan). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/irbid--mafraq-plains-iba-jordan on 13/01/2025.