Important Bird Areas
The enormous range of latitudes supports portions of 6 biomes: Saharan-Sindian in the north; Sahel; much of the south is within Sudan-Guinea Savanna; Guinea-Congo Forests in the south-west; Somali-Masai in the south-east; the southern mountains lie within the Afrotropical Highlands biome. Inland wetlands dominated by the Sudd are significant for large numbers of waterbirds and some of Sudan’s Red Sea islands support breeding colonies of seabirds.
22 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) have been designated with a total land area of 18,040 km2. Of these, 13 are legally or partly protected on paper at least. There have been few ornithological surveys in recent years and much of the data on which the selections have been made is out of date and possibly inaccurate.
Wadi Haifa is the only IBA in the north situated close to the border with Egypt and adjacent to the Lake Nasser IBA in Egypt. It has Saharan-Sindian species such as Crowned Sandgrouse Pterocles coronatus and Pharaoh’s Eagle Owl Bubo ascalaphus.
3 IBAs are on the Red Sea: Mukawwar Island and Dunganab Bay; Khor Arba’at and Suakin Archipelago. The first 2 of these support Saharan-Sindian species such as Spotted Sandgrouse Pterocles senegallus and Desert Lark Ammomanes deserti. The Suakin Archipelago is a large group of islets which support breeding colonies of 5 tern species: Greater Crested Tern Sterna bergii, Lesser Crested Tern S. bengalensis, White-cheeked Tern S. repressa, Bridled Tern S. anaethetus and Brown Noddy Anous stolidus. Small numbers of Brown Booby Sula leucogaster, Sooty Gull Larus hemprichii and Crab-plover Dromas ardeola also breed.
Gezira is a large flood-plain between the Blue and White Niles south of Khartoum. It is an important site for waterbirds and large counts of Garganey Anas querquedula, Ruff Philomachus pugnax and Collared Pratincole Glareola pratincola have been observed in the past.
Um Badr Lake, Jebel Marra and En Nahud hold Sahel species such as Arabian Bustard Ardeotis arabs, Black Scrub-Robin Cercotrichas podobe and Chestnut-bellied Starling Lamprotornis pulcher.
The rest of the IBAs are all in the southern parts of Sudan: Dinder; Lake Kundi; Lake Abiad; Radom; Ashana; Sudd; Boma; Southern National Park; Bandingilo; Bengangai; Juba; Imatong Mountains; Kidepo and Nimule. These hold 33 of the 36 species of the Sudan-Guinea Savanna biome found in Sudan including Red-throated Bee-eater Merops bulocki, Black-breasted Barbet Lybius rolleti, Foxy Cisticola Cisticola troglodytes and Black-rumped Waxbill Estrilda troglodytes.
In addition, Bengangai and Imatong Mountains hold 62 of the 68 species of the Guinea-Congo Forests biome found in Sudan including Spotted Honeyguide Indicator maculatus, White-throated Greenbul Phyllastrephus albigularis, Brown Illadopsis Illadopsis fulvescens, Shrike-Flycatcher Megabyas flammulatus and Jameson’s Wattle-eye Dyaphorophyia jamesoni.
Imatong Mountains and Kidepo hold 30 of the 33 species of the Afrotropical Highlands biome found in Sudan including Mountain Buzzard Buteo oreophilus, Little Rock-Thrush Monticola rufocinereus, Tacazze Sunbird Nectarinia tacazze and Sharpe’s Starling Cinnyricinclus sharpii. They also hold, along with Boma and Bandingilo, 33 of 49 species of Somali-Masai biome found in Sudan including species such as Abyssinian Scimitarbill Rhinopomastus minor, Rufous Chatterer Turdoides rubiginosa and Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird Anthreptes orientalis.
Further information on Sudan’s IBAs and EBAs can be found at BirdLife International.
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