Search for IBAs in Lebanon, 2005-2007

Tannourine Cedars Nature Reserve, a newly-declared IBA in Lebanon

One of A Rocha’s current projects, started in 2005, is the surveying of bird populations, both passage and nesting, at sites all around Lebanon which have been proposed as potential IBAs (Important Bird Areas). These places have been selected as they are thought to hold, or have passing through them, significant numbers of migratory soaring birds, or globally rare or endangered species.

Before the start of this current project only four IBAs had been declared in Lebanon, all in 1994. They are Aammiq Marsh, Palm Islands, Ehden Forest and the Shouf Cedars.

Along with SPNL (Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon), the BirdLife International partner for Lebanon whose scientists are also visiting sites, A Rocha submits the data from the most likely potential IBAs to BirdLife International who decide which locations merit IBA status. By the end of 2007 around forty sites will have been surveyed by the two organizations.

However, the IBA programme is not just about numbers - a site must also be amenable to practical conservation and form part of an integrated approach to protection, involving local communities as “stakeholders,” protecting the IBA’s environment, and hopefully generating benefits to the community through eco-tourism and recreation. On July 26th, 2005, A Rocha and SPNL made a joint presentation launching the Search for IBAs programme to Lebanon’s scientific community and the press at the Ministry of Environment in Beirut.

2005

Black-eared Wheatear, a common summer visitor to Lebanon

Seven locations were visited on at least six occasions by A Rocha Lebanon staff, plus visiting bird experts from around the world, focusing on the migration periods in particular. The sites varied in habitat types, from mountain top passage points for soaring birds at Sannine, Ain Hoursche and Aiha, through riverside woods at Tannayel and Aanjar, marshes at Kfar Zabad, montane cedar forest at Tannourine, to the largest lake in Lebanon at Qaraoun. By September, over 120 species of birds had been identified at the seven sites, highlights including the discovery of only the second breeding locations in Lebanon for White-throated Robin and Penduline Tit. Following A Rocha’s surveys four of the above sites were awarded IBA status by BirdLife International in April 2006, namely Sannine, Tannourine, Lake Qaraaoun, and Aanjar/Kfar Zabad.

2006

Temminck’s Lark, found in Lebanon’s desert area

A Rocha is surveying three sites along the course of the beautiful Damour River, which rises near the cedars of the Shouf and enters the sea between Beirut and Sidon. Also “under the microscope” are the hilly wooded areas around Yammouneh and Bentael, which are on opposite slopes of the Mount Lebanon range but very different in habitat and bird species. Lastly is an area of Lebanon’s desert near Hermel which is home to biome-restricted species not found elsewhere in the country, such as Mourning Wheatear, Scrub Warbler, Desert, Bar-tailed and Temminck’s Larks.

2007

Locations on the Anti-Lebanon mountain range plus the Litani and Orontes river valleys are expected to be among the sites visited in 2007, plus the Qammouha area inland from Tripoli in the far north of Lebanon.

Competent birders are invited to come to Lebanon to assist in this important work each spring and autumn - watch the A Rocha International home page for dates in 2006 and 2007.

Contact lebanon@arocha.org