Important Bird Areas

BirdLife International identified seven Important Bird Areas (IBAs), most qualifying for the biome-restricted communities they support. These seven areas total 1,112 km2, approximately 5% of the country, and none are officially protected.

Of greatest conservation concern is the Forêt du Day, in the Goda mountains on the northern side of the Gulf of Tadjoura as this is the main site for the endemic and critically endangered Djibouti Francolin Francolinus ochropectus. This area consists of a mixture of Juniperus procera, Buxus hilderbranti and Tarchonanthus camphoratus forest at higher altitudes and extensive areas of secondary Acacia forest at lower elevations. The area is divided by deep wadis, several of which support stands of the near endemic Bankoualé Palm, Livistonia carinensis. The primary forest areas are severely degraded with the majority of the Junipers dead or dying and very little regeneration. The precise cause of the state of the Junipers is still undetermined.

Mabla mountains is approximately 60 km east of the Forêt du Day, and the only other documented site for the Djibouti Francolin Francolinus ochropectus though the population is thought to be extremely small.

Kadda Guéini-Douméra is a 61km stretch of sandy coast line north of Obock, which includes the rocky outcrops of Ras Siyan and Doumera, and is the main crossing point of the Red Sea for the huge numbers of birds of prey that pass through annually.

Les Sept Frères is an archipelago of six islands (the ‘seventh’ is Ras Siyan) at the mouth of the Bab el Mandeb which supports large breeding colonies of Greater Sterna bergii and Lesser Crested Terns S. bengalensis, though egg collecting is known to take place so numbers may be severely reduced.

Lac Abhé is the largest inland water body in Djibouti and forms part of the western border with Ethiopia, which supports large numbers of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber. The lake is the final ‘outlet’ of the Awash River but damming of the river upstream in Ethiopia has reduced freshwater inputs significantly and the lake has been drastically reduced in size over the last 50 years.

Ali Sabieh-Assamo is a region of lightly wooded wadis along the south-eastern border with Ethiopia supporting a range of Somali-Masai biome-restricted species such as Yellow-necked Spurfowl Francolinus leucoscepus and Eastern Chanting Goshawk Melierax poliopterus.

Doda is a large alluvial plain in the north-west of the country, subject to periodic inundation. The area supports several Sahel biome-restricted species and there was an impressive count of 1,300 Marsh Sandpipers Tringa stagnatilis in December 1998 when the area was extensively flooded.

No Endemic Bird Areas are recognised, though the Forêt du Day is listed in Stattersfield et al (1998) as a Secondary Area because of the Djibouti Francolin Francolinus ochropectus.