Data Zone
Country/territory: Panama
IBA criteria met: A1, A2 (2003)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 48,000 hectares (480.00 km2)
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2013 | poor | very high | low |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2003 baseline)
The Serranía de Majé is an isolated mountain range on the Pacific slope, about 60 km long, 30 km south of the continental divide across the valley of the Bayano River and 15 km inland from the Pacific. The range rises gradually towards the east, with the highest point, Cerro Chucantí (1,439 m) at the eastern end. This part of the range is spectacular, with many steep bare rock towers. The Majecito, Majé, Ipetí, and Piriati Rivers drain into to Lake Bayano and the Bayano River to the north, and the Pasiga, La Maestra, Platanares, Chimán, and Congo Rivers drain into the Pacific on the south and east. The Majé Hydrological Reserve is located within the range, and the area is adjacent to the Chimán Wetlands on the coast.
Key biodiversity
The globally threatened Great Green Macaw occurs in the area, as do the globally near-threatened Harpy Eagle, Great Curassow, Russet-crowned Quail-Dove, Beautiful Treerunner, Black-billed Flycatcher, and Viridian Dacnis, and probably Crested Eagle, as well as many nationally threatened species. Such favored game species as Crested Guan and Great Curassow are fairly common inthe more remote parts of the range. The site contains 6 of 17 species (35%) of the Darién Highlands EBA, as well as several of the Darién Lowlands. Russet-crowned-Dove is represented by a subspecies endemic to the Serranía de Majé (Wetmore 1968). The remoter parts of the area are ornithologically poorly known, the only survey of the range above 1,000 m being that conducted by the Panama Audubon Society in 1996 (Angehr and Christian 2000).
Non-bird biodiversity: There are no published reports on the fauna. Mammals probably include Water Opossum, Central American Woolly Opossum, Silky Anteater, Northern Naked-tailed Armadillo, Geoffroy’s Tamarin, Western Night Monkey, Capybara, Crab-eating Raccoon, Neotropical River Otter, Ocelot, Margay, Jaguarundi, Puma, and Jaguar. Many of the reptiles and amphibians recorded from the Narganá Wildlands Area and Darién National Park may occur.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Serranía de Majé (Panama). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/serranía-de-majé-iba-panama on 23/12/2024.