Current view: Text account
Site description (1994 baseline):
Site location and context
A relatively well-wooded mountain area, centred on the village of Slenfeh c.20 km north-east of Al-Ladhiqiyah (Lattakia), on the western slopes of the Jibal al-Nusayriyah range. The woodland is dominated by
Abies and
Cedrus. The area is generally densely populated with small settlements.
Pyman (1953) estimated ('probably conservatively') that several hundred large raptors per day passed south through the area during late September. The raptor stream observed here is presumably a continuation of that which passes through the bottleneck site of Belen in southern Turkey, where at least 30,000 raptors and more than 100,000
Ciconia ciconia pass through per autumn (Sutherland and Brooks 1981), and birds have been seen moving on south from Jibal al-Nusayriyah into the Lebanese mountains. The predominant raptors in September are
Pernis apivorus,
Aquila pomarina and
Accipiter brevipes. The raptor migration also occurs in spring. Breeding species include
Hieraaetus fasciatus (common in the 1940s but no recent records),
Alectoris chukar,
Coturnix coturnix,
Tachymarptis melba,
Lullula arborea,
Luscinia megarhynchos,
Sylvia communis,
Lanius nubicus (very common),
Corvus corax,
Emberiza caesia and
E. melanocephala.
Non-bird biodiversity: No information available to BirdLife International.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The site is a State Forest Protection Zone administered by the Directorate of Forests and Afforestation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform. Hunting is a widespread activity in the Jibal al-Nusayriyah range. Shooting of migratory raptors is common in Syria (Baumgart 1991a, 1991b, Bijlsma 1987). The area was proposed as a managed nature reserve or multiple-use management area by a Task Force of the UNEP Regional Activity Centre for Mediterranean Specially Protected Areas in 1989 (Jeudy de Grissac 1989).
Data-sheet compiled by M. I. Evans.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Jabal Slenfeh (Syria). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/jabal-slenfeh-iba-syria on 24/12/2024.
