Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2018 | 10(5): 11613–11617
On
the birds of Marivan County, western Iran: an update
Fatah Zarei
1, Seyed Naseh Hosseini
2, Jalal Pezeshk 3, Loghman Maleki 4 & Hamid Reza Esmaeili
5
1,5 Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz
University, Shiraz 71454, Iran
2,3 Zarivar Bird Records Group Bureau, Chya
Green Association, Marivan 6671915640, Iran
2 Kurdistan Provincial Representatives, Iran Bird
Records Committee (IBRC), Tehran, Iran
4 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science,
University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj 66177-15175, Iran
1 fataahzarei@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 sey.naseh@gmail.com,
3 pezeshk.jalal1981@gmail.com, 4 l.maleki@uok.ac.ir, 5
hresmaeili@shirazu.ac.ir
Abstract: To update the avian checklist and note their
conservation status in Marivan County, western Iran,
we report the addition of 28 species belonging to six orders and 13 families
recorded during our field observations in 2015–2017 outside the range of Zarivar Wildlife Refuge. With 255 species reported in previous
surveys from the Zarivar Wildlife Refuge and Marivan County, as well as 28 additions here, the avian
checklist of Marivan County reaches 283 species from
19 orders and 57 families, which is equivalent to about 51.2% of total bird
species recorded from Iran.
Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species applies to five species and the Appendix II
applies to 34 species. The Red List
considers six species as Vulnerable, three species as Endangered and 11 species
as Near Threatened. In addition, 15
species are endangered and another 43 species are protected species based on
the rules and regularities/laws of the Iranian Department of the Environment.
Keywords: Avifauna, biodiversity, conservation, Kurdistan
Province.
doi: http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3848.10.5.11613-11617 | ZooBank:
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:24473F93-C4EC-419E-9662-E4A239B73C7E
Editor:
Reuven Yosef,
Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Eilat, Israel. Date
of publication: 26 April 2018 (online & print)
Manuscript details: Ms # 3848 | Received 14
October 2017 | Final received 30 March 2018 | Finally accepted 04 April 2018
Citation: Zarei, F., S.N. Hosseini, L. Pezeshk,
L. Maleki & H.R. Esmaeili
(2018). On the birds of Marivan County, western Iran: an update. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 10(5): 11613–11617; http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3848.10.5.11613-11617
Copyright:
© Zarei et al.
2018. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution
by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements:
We gratefully acknowledge the help of Salam Zarei (Mass Group Holding), who kindly provided transport
vehicle and photographic equipment for the first author.
Reviewing the avifaunal
studies in Iran conducted during the past century indicates large regional
differences in the number and quality of studies. While the bird fauna of the northwestern, northeastern,
southern Caspian and southern Iranian provinces has been well covered in these
studies, avifaunal studies in the western provinces such as Kurdistan Province
have been very weak (Roselaar & Aliabadian 2007; Khaleghizadeh et
al. 2011).
Kurdistan Province,
with an area of 28,203km2, is located in the west of Iran. The herpetofauna
(Rastegar-Pouyani et al. 2009; Rastegar-Pouyani
2011; Bahmani et al. 2012, 2014) and ichthyofauna (e.g., Esmaeili et
al. 2011; Imanpour-Namin et al. 2015; Zarei & Rajabi-Maham 2017; Esmaeili et al. 2017a,b) of this province have been well-studied and received more attention than any other
taxa.
Until recently, no
study has been published on the bird fauna of Kurdistan Province and the
surveys conducted in neighboring provinces also did
not cover its avifauna. In a recent
study by Zarei et al. (2017), as the first avifaunal
study from Kurdistan Province, planned and implemented in Zarivar
Wildlife Refuge (ZWR), a total number of 222 bird species including 131
terrestrial birds (59%) and 91 waterbirds (41%) belonging
to 16 orders and 50 families were identified, of which 95 species were new
records for ZWR. Of 222 species,
seven species were endangered and 30 species were protected species based on
the rules and regulations/laws of the Iranian Department of the Environment
(DOE; https://doe.ir/) (Supreme Council on Environment 2017). Twenty-one species were listed in the
Appendix I and II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES; https://cites.org/), and 11 species were in the Red List of
Threatened Species (BirdLife International 2017).
Herein, to update
our current knowledge on the avifaunal checklist and their conservation status
in the range of Marivan County (west of Kurdistan
Province), we report the addition of 28 new bird species belonging to six
orders and 13 families recorded outside the range of ZWR during field
observations in 2015–2017.
Materials and
Methods
Study area
Our study area in Marivan County, is one of the
unique landscapes in the middle of Zagros Mountains. Its area is 7,275km2
and it lies between 35.163581–36.0918030N &
46.030133–46.7598250E in the west of Kurdistan Province,
Iran. The map of the study area was
produced using Global Mapper 18 (Global Mapper Software LLC, Olathe, Kansas)
and Surfer 11 (Golden Software, LLC) (Image 1). It is placed in the middle of the Irano-Anatolian biodiversity hotspot and includes a variety
of mountainous habitats prevailed with Persian oak forests, numerous artificial
and natural water bodies and meadows with cold Mediterranean climate (Rastegar-Pouyani et al. 2009). ZWR (35.5453030N &
46.1233220E), located in the east of the study area with an area of
3,291ha, is an Important Bird Area (Evans 1994) and a wetland with
international importance in the Middle East (Scott 1995) (Image 2).
Recording method
Birds were
identified from March 2015 to August 2017 immediately in the field based on the
morphological characteristics using various field guides (e.g., Porter et al.
2004; Svensson et al. 2009; Mansoori
2013). They were observed through a
Beileshi 10×50 396FT/1000YDS Sports Military
Optics Binoculars. Occasionally,
photographs were taken using a Canon EOS 70D camera equipped with a Canon
100–400 mm f/4.5–5.6L IS lens.
Results
During field
observations outside the range of ZWR in Marivan
County, a total number of 28 new bird species belonging to six orders and 13
families were recorded (Table 1).
Considering internationally protected bird species, four species are
assessed as under severe threat—Steppe Eagle Aquila nepalensis Hodgson, 1833 and Saker Falcon Falco cherrug Gray, 1834 as Endangered (EN), and Bearded Vulture Gypaetus
barbatus
(Linnaeus, 1758) and Cinereous Vulture Aegypius
monachus
(Linnaeus, 1766) as Near Threatened (NT) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species (BirdLife International 2017). Of these 29
species, CITES Appendix II apply to seven species and
the IranŐs DOE laws designated two species as endangered, namely Bearded Vulture Gypaetus
barbatus
and Saker Falcon Falco
cherrug,
and five other species as protected species (Supreme Council on Environment
2017).
Table 1. Details of 28 new additions
recorded in Marivan County during 2015–2017.
|
Family |
English name |
Scientific name |
Status (Iran) |
IUCN |
CITES |
DOE |
N |
1 |
Phasianidae |
See-see Partridge |
Ammoperdix griseogularis |
R |
|
|
|
8 |
2 |
Accipitridae |
Bearded Vulture |
Gypaetus barbatus |
R |
NT |
II |
EN |
1 |
3 |
Griffon Vulture |
Gyps fulvus |
R |
|
II |
Prot. |
3 |
|
4 |
Cinereous Vulture |
Aegypius monachus |
R |
NT |
II |
Prot. |
1 |
|
5 |
Steppe Eagle |
Aquila nipalensis |
w, p |
EN |
II |
Prot. |
3 |
|
6 |
Northern Goshawk |
Accipiter gentilis |
r, W |
|
II |
Prot. |
1 |
|
7 |
Black Kite |
Milvus migrans |
S, W, P |
|
II |
Prot. |
4 |
|
8 |
Falconidae |
Saker Falcon |
Falco cherrug |
r, W, P |
EN |
II |
EN |
2 |
9 |
Caprimulgidae |
European Nightjar |
Caprimulgus europaeus |
S, P |
|
|
|
8 |
10 |
Picidae |
European Green Woodpecker |
Picus viridis |
R |
|
|
|
12 |
11 |
Corvidae |
Red-Billed Chough |
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax |
R |
|
|
|
17 |
12 |
Alpine Chough |
Pyrrhocorax graculus |
R |
|
|
|
11 |
|
13 |
Hirundinidae |
Eurasian Crag Martin |
Ptyonoprogne rupestris |
S |
|
|
|
23 |
14 |
Common House Martin |
Delichon urbicum |
S, P |
|
|
|
7 |
|
15 |
Red-Rumped Swallow |
Cecropis daurica |
S, P |
|
|
|
5 |
|
16 |
Sittidae |
Western Rock Nuthatch |
Sitta neumayer |
R |
|
|
|
7 |
17 |
Eastern Rock Nuthatch |
Sitta tephronota |
R |
|
|
|
9 |
|
18 |
White-Throated Robin |
Irania gutturalis |
S |
|
|
|
5 |
|
19 |
Common Rock Thrush |
Monticola saxatilis |
S, w, P |
|
|
|
8 |
|
20 |
Blue Rock Thrush |
Monticola solitarius |
R, S |
|
|
|
5 |
|
21 |
Mourning Wheatear |
Oenanthe lugens |
S, w |
|
|
|
3 |
|
22 |
Cinclidae |
White-Throated Dipper |
Cinclus cinclus |
R |
|
|
|
6 |
23 |
Passeridae |
Pale Rockfinch |
Carpospiza brachydactyla |
S, P |
|
|
Pest |
17 |
24 |
Rock Sparrow |
Petronia petronia |
R |
|
|
Pest |
11 |
|
25 |
White-winged Snowfinch |
Montifringilla nivalis |
R |
|
|
Pest |
6 |
|
26 |
Prunellidae |
Dunnock |
Prunella modularis |
r, W |
|
|
|
13 |
27 |
Fringillidae |
Hawfinch |
Coccothraustes coccothraustes |
R, W |
|
|
|
3 |
28 |
Emberizidae |
Rock Bunting |
Emberiza cia |
R |
|
|
|
12 |
Key to symbols and status for Iran follows Scott &
Adhami (2006): R - common resident (present year
round); S - common summer visitor; s - scarce summer visitor; W - common winter
visitor; w - scarce winter visitor; P - common passage migrant (in spring and/or
autumn); p - scarce passage migrant; NT - near threatened;
EN - endangered; Prot. - protected;
N - number of records.
Discussion
Considering 222
bird species recorded in ZWR by Zarei et al. (2017),
33 bird species recorded by previous authors in the ZWR and Marivan
County (reviewed in Zarei et al. 2017; Scott 2008),
as well as 28 new additions recorded here, the current study increases the
avifaunal checklist of Marivan County to 283 species
belonging to 19 orders (Image 3) and 57 families, which is equivalent to about
51.2% of total bird species recorded in the country (551 species until August
2017; Khaleghizadeh et al. 2017). Of 283 species, Appendix I of the CITES
applies to five species, while itŐs Appendix II applies to 34 species. The IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species considered six species as Vulnerable (VU), three
species as EN and 11 species as NT (BirdLife
International 2017). Finally, 15
species are endangered and another 43 species are protected species in the
Iranian DOE laws (Supreme Council on Environment 2017). Therefore, the number of species with
the conservation value in Marivan County would
increase to 67, indicating the high conservation value of the area.
In addition to the
considerable importance of ZWR as an IBA in the Middle East (Scott 1995), the
remarkable avian diversity of the Marivan County may
stem from several ecological factors, as follows:
Complex
physiography and rich flora of Kurdistan Province (consists of 2,110 species
from 113 families and 629 genera, which is equivalent to about 25% of plant
species recorded throughout the country; Maroufi
2012) as part of the Iranian-Anatolian biodiversity hotspot, and a variety of
mountainous habitats with Persian Oak forests and meadows with cold Mediterranean
climate (Rastegar-Pouyani et al. 2009), has provided
a variety of ecological niches for various avian species.
In term of
zoogeography, the study area is on the crossroads of fauna originating from the
Palearctic, Oriental and Afrotropical realms (Scott
1989; Roselaar & Aliabadian
2007). As part of the Zagros
Mountains, this area acts as a secondary and hybrid contact zone for a
considerable number of bird taxa including Passeriformes from the west and east
of Palearctic and from the great Saharo-Sindin desert
belt (Aliabadian et al. 2007).
It seems that with
increasing drought of the Lake Urmia in the north as
an example, the existence of wetlands and water bodies located at lower
latitudes (including the ZWR and water bodies of Marivan
County) has significantly increased their importance for staging and wintering
areas of migratory water birds in the African-western Eurasian flyway (Sheykhi Ilanloo et al. 2015; Zarei et al. 2017).
The bird fauna in the world is facing several
common threats mainly due to anthropogenic activities/human-induced
disturbances. According to Worldwatch Institute, many bird populations are currently
declining worldwide. Habitat loss, overhunting, pollution,
accidental mortality due to structural collisions, long-line
fishing bycatch, competition and predation
by pet cats, oil spills and pesticide use and also
climate change are the main threats affecting birds in the world including
Iran. Although,
some forms of legal protection, have already been instituted, along with
education of local people by the Iranian DOE, nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), and media initiatives; we think that habitat monitoring is
urgent for investigating the population status. Moreover, gaining basic information
about their natural history, community structure, and the biodiversity of
regional systems including genetic diversity is highly recommended.
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