Current view: Text account
Site description (1994 baseline):
Site location and context
A shallow bay of 15 × 35 km, almost closed by a long narrow island, and containing eight other islets. It is situated at a point where the Asir mountains run close to the Red Sea. Most of the islets are surrounded by mangrove
Avicennia trees and clothed with dense
Salicornia, and there are seagrass beds in the bay.
See box for key species. The site holds the densest population of
Falco concolor in Saudi Arabia and probably in the world, and at least 50 pairs of
Sterna anaethetus breed. The coastal topography concentrates migrants moving down the coast.
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals: Dugong dugon (V). Reptiles: the sea-turtles Eretmochelys imbricata (E) and Chelonia mydas (E) breed.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Trapping of migrant birds (especially falcons) between mid-September and mid-November is a tradition, and average numbers of falcons caught per year are c.30
Falco biarmicus, c.15
F. cherrug, c.40
F. peregrinus and c.30
F. pelegrinoides. In one year, three adult
F. concolor were known to have been trapped and a nest robbed, and a leaflet explaining the importance of the
F. concolor population is to be distributed to falcon trappers. The site is proposed as a Special Nature Reserve in the NCWCD System Plan for Protected Areas.
Data-sheet compiled by P. Gaucher, with comments by P. Symens.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Qishran Bay (Saudi Arabia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/qishran-bay-iba-saudi-arabia on 23/12/2024.
