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• Reference and further resources

The site was identified as important in 2000 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting ('triggering') IBA criteria.

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

Species	Red List1	Season	Year(s)	Size	IBA criteria
Rock Partridge Alectoris graeca	NT	breeding	1991	100-500 breeding pairs	B2, C6
Rock Ptarmigan Lagopus muta	LC	breeding	1991	100-500 breeding pairs	C6
Black Grouse Lyrurus tetrix	LC	breeding	1991	100-500 breeding pairs	B2, C6
Eurasian Pygmy-owl Glaucidium passerinum	LC	breeding	1991	10-100 breeding pairs	C6
Boreal Owl Aegolius funereus	LC	breeding	1991	10-100 breeding pairs	C6
European Honey-buzzard Pernis apivorus	LC	breeding	1991	10-100 breeding pairs	B3, C6
Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus	NT	breeding	1996	1 breeding pairs	B2
Short-toed Snake-eagle Circaetus gallicus	LC	breeding	1991	10-100 breeding pairs	B2, C6
Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos	LC	breeding	1991	25 breeding pairs	B2, C6
Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius	LC	breeding	1991	10-100 breeding pairs	C6
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus	LC	breeding	1991	1-10 breeding pairs	B2
Red-billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax	LC	breeding	1991	100-500 breeding pairs	B2, C2, C6

1. The current IUCN Red List category. The category at the time of the IBA criteria assessment (2000) may differ.

Year	Protected Area	Designation	% overlap with IBA
1979	Mercantour	Parc national, zone cœur	100
1996	Le Mercantour	Site of Community Importance (Habitats Directive)	100
2008	Le Mercantour	Special Protection Area (Birds Directive)	100

Habitat1	Habitat detail	% of IBA
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)	Scree & boulders, Inland cliffs	44
Grassland	Alpine, subalpine and boreal grassland	26
Forest	Native coniferous woodland	20
Shrubland	Sclerophyllous scrub, garrigue and maquis	8
Wetlands (inland)	Standing freshwater	-

1. IUCN Habitat classification.

Land use	% of IBA
agriculture	-
fisheries/aquaculture	-
forestry	-
tourism/recreation	-
urban/industrial/transport	-

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Parc National du Mercantour (France). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/parc-national-du-mercantour-iba-france on 23/11/2024.