Current view: Text account
Site description (1994 baseline):
Site location and context
Gently rolling, cultivated plains set in a valley between folds of the north-west Zagros Mountains and almost completely surrounded by low stony hills. The site is 5-10 km south-south-east of the village of Kerend and 70 km west-south-west of Kermanshah. The land is cultivated (mostly cereals) or fallow, with
Artemisia steppe on the surrounding hills. The area is sparsely populated, with only one small village in the extreme south-east. There is some livestock grazing. Land ownership is public and private.
See box for key species. An important breeding area for
Otis tarda in the 1970s, with probably at least 10 nesting females; the birds were present May-September, local farmers reporting concentrations of up to 50-60.
Buteo rufinus also breeds, and
Aquila chrysaetos is an occasional visitor. Winter visitors include
Accipiter gentilis (scarce), and passage migrants include
Buteo buteo and
Grus grus.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The area was very little disturbed in the 1970s and no other threats are known. No conservation measures are known to have been proposed.
Data-sheet compiled by Dr D. A. Scott, reviewed by Dept of Environment.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Telesm plain (Iran, Islamic Republic of). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/telesm-plain-iba-iran-islamic-republic-of on 23/11/2024.
