Data Zone
Country/territory: Tunisia
IBA criteria met: A3, A4iv (2001)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 1,300 hectares (13.00 km2)
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2001 | good | medium | low |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2001 baseline)
Djebel el Haouaria is situated on the northern point of the Cap Bon peninsula in the extreme north-east of the country. The low peak (393 m) of El Haouaria is the northernmost mountain at the end of the Dorsale range. It supports a Mediterranean maquis vegetation of Olea europaea, Pistacia lentiscus, Myrtus communis and Cistus monspeliensis.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for key species. Birds which have wintered in Africa and are moving back to breeding grounds in Europe concentrate here for the short sea-crossing to Sicily, particularly large, soaring birds which avoid long sea-crossings. The site is comparable in importance to Gibraltar and the Bosphorus. Annually between March–May some 20,000–40,000 raptors of 24 species, including Circus macrourus and Falco naumanni overfly the site, as do significant numbers of Ciconia ciconia, C. nigra, Grus grus, Asio otus, Asio flammeus, Otus scops, Coturnix coturnix and Oriolus oriolus. Raptors breeding on the cliffs include Buteo rufinus cirtensis, Falco peregrinus, F. biarmicus and F. tinnunculus.
Non-bird biodiversity: Djebel el Haouaria hosts one of the most important colonies of bats in Tunisia, including Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum (LR/cd).
Attributes
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Jbel el Haouaria (Tunisia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/jbel-el-haouaria-iba-tunisia on 23/12/2024.