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

Site description (2001 baseline)
The site lies about 60 km south of the town of Constantine in the depression between the coastal range of mountains to the north (the Petite Kabylie) and the Massif de l’Aurès to the south. It lies at 800 m, just to the east of the main N3 road running south from Constantine to Batna, which separates it from Chott de Tinnsilt (site DZ011). It consists of a shallow pan, with a clay and silt bottom and shallow, salty water. There is a sparse fringe of Salicornia sp. around the shore and the wetland is surrounded on three sides by arable land. To the east there is a strip of uncultivated, sparsely vegetated land. There are salines on the western shore and some illegal hunting occurs using traps, which are prohibited on the chotts and sebkhas. The site is linked hydrologically to Chott de Tinnsilt (site DZ011) and at high levels, water flows from Tinnsilt into Ez-Zemoul. Another wetland to the south (Sebkhet Djendli, site DZ013) is separated from Ez-Zemoul by low rocky hills.

Key biodiversity
See Box for key species. This is the only site at which Numenius tenuirostris (one individual) was recorded during specific surveys to investigate the presence of this species on the ‘Chotts Constantinois’ in 1990. There is also an earlier record of two individuals in 1982. Four or five thousand Tadorna tadorna were recorded using the site on several occasions during the winter of 1991/92. On two occasions, large numbers (5,300 and over 6,000) of ‘white waterfowl’ were recorded. While a proportion of these were identified as Tadorna tadorna, it is possible that there were also significant numbers (more than 1,500) of Recurvirostra avosetta. During the same winter the site was also used by large numbers (more than 600) of Phoenicopterus ruber, c.400 Charadrius alexandrinus and c.900 Calidris minuta.

Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Sebkhet Ez-Zemoul (Algeria). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/sebkhet-ez-zemoul-iba-algeria on 23/11/2024.