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

Site description (2001 baseline)
Pirang is a fenced, isolated patch of forest 45 km from Banjul on the southern edge of the Gambia River, less than a kilometre from the riverbank. It is, after Abuko (GM001), the second-largest fragment of semi-evergreen forest in the country. It is surrounded on three sides by cropland and fallow and, on the northern side, by Avicennia mangrove. The forest is in a shallow depression such that the water-table is close to the surface for much of the year. Half of the site is closed-canopy forest, 25 to 35 m high, in which the dominant canopy species are Elais guineensis, Ficus pseudomangifera, Dialium guineense, Pseudospondias microcarpa and Parinari excelsa. The remainder of the forest has been partly cleared and has an abundance of lianas. Paths run through the site to link the nearby villages of Pirang and Bonto, whose populations are permitted to gather local products and dead wood for fuel from the forest.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for species. Pirang is relatively well studied ornithologically, and holds the second-richest assemblage in the country of species characteristic of the Guinea–Congo Forests biome. New forest species continue to be discovered, including breeding Sarothrura pulchra in 1991 and Illadopsis puveli, for which this is the only Gambian site, in 1993. Other characteristic forest species with nationally important populations here include Tauraco persa, Bleda canicapilla, Sylvietta virens and Spermophaga haematina. There is a nationally significant roost of Balearica pavonina just outside the forest park. In addition, one species of the Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome occurs; see Table 2.

Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals of global conservation concern include Procolobus badius temminckii (EN).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Pirang Forest Park (Gambia). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/pirang-forest-park-iba-gambia on 23/12/2024.