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The Djavshangoz Important Bird Area ( zh, 贾夫尚戈斯重点鸟区), also spelt Dzhavshangoz ( zh, 贾夫尚戈斯), is a 345 km2 tract of land in southern
The Djavshangoz Important Bird Area ( zh, 贾夫尚戈斯重点鸟区), also spelt Dzhavshangoz ( zh, 贾夫尚戈斯), is a 345 km2 tract of land in southern Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province
Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area but only two percent of its popul ...
in eastern Tajikistan
Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...
. It has been identified by BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...
as an Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA).
Description
The site lies some 110 km east of the provincial capital ofKhorog
Khorog ( ), also Khorugh ( ) or Kharagh ( ), is the capital of Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. It is also the capital of the Shughnon District of Gorno-Badakhshan. It has a population of 30,500 (2020 ).
Khorog is above sea level in the Pamir Mou ...
in the Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...
. The most important features within the IBA are the Djavshangoz and Turumtaykul valleys. The Djavshangoz valley is 3400 m above sea level and forms a wide plain between the Shungan and Shakhdara ridges. In the middle section of the valley, river floods create islands which attract waterbird
A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...
s. The Turumtaykul valley is 4500 m above sea level and divides the Shungan ridge into northern and southern parts. Turumtaykul lake is located in the central part of the valley and forms the core zone of the IBA. Much of the site is used as pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing.
Types of pasture
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...
, with arable land being scarce. Two settlements within the IBA, Djavshangoz and Barchid, have a combined population of about 750.
Birds
The site qualifies as an IBA because it supports significant numbers of the populations of various bird species, either as residents, or as breeding or passage migrants. These includeHimalayan snowcock
The Himalayan snowcock (''Tetraogallus himalayensis'') is a snowcock in the pheasant family Phasianidae found across the Himalayan ranges and parts of the adjoining Pamir range of Asia. It is found on alpine pastures and on steep rocky cliffs w ...
s, ruddy shelduck
The ruddy shelduck (''Tadorna ferruginea''), known in India as the Brahminy duck, is a bird species in the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, in length with a wingspan of . It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, whil ...
s, common merganser
The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (''Mergus merganser'') is a large sea duck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees ...
s, saker falcon
The saker falcon (Falco cherrug) is a large falcon species. It breeds from Central Europe eastwards across the Palearctic to Manchuria. It is a partial migrant, which means that some part of the population is migratory, some part is not. In Eur ...
s, Himalayan vulture
The Himalayan vulture (''Gyps himalayensis'') or Himalayan griffon vulture is an Old World vulture native to the Himalayas and foothills in North India, North and Northeast India, Northeastern India, as well as the adjacent Tibetan Plateau. After ...
s, cinereous vulture
The cinereous vulture (''Aegypius monachus''), also known as the black vulture, Eurasian black vulture, and monk vulture, is a very large Raptor (bird), raptor in the family Accipitridae distributed through much of temperate Eurasia. With a body ...
s, yellow-billed chough
The Alpine chough () or yellow-billed chough (''Pyrrhocorax graculus'') is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus '' Pyrrhocorax''. Its two subspecies breed in high mountains from Spain eastwards through southern Europ ...
s, Hume's lark
Hume's short-toed lark (''Calandrella acutirostris'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in south-central Asia from Iran and Kazakhstan to China.
Taxonomy and systematics
The name commemorates the British naturalist Allan ...
s, sulphur-bellied warblers, wallcreeper
The wallcreeper (''Tichodroma muraria'') is a small passerine bird found throughout the high mountains of the Palearctic from southern Europe to central China. It is the only extant member of both the genus '' Tichodroma'' and the family Tichodr ...
s, Himalayan rubythroats, white-winged redstarts, white-winged snowfinch
The white-winged snowfinch (''Montifringilla nivalis''), or snowfinch, is a small passerine bird. Despite its name, it is a sparrow rather than a true finch.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description ...
es, alpine accentor
The alpine accentor (''Prunella collaris'') is a small passerine bird in the family Prunellidae, which is native to Eurasia and North Africa.
Taxonomy
The Alpine accentor was described by the Austrian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 176 ...
s, rufous-streaked accentors, brown accentor
The brown accentor (''Prunella fulvescens'') is a species of bird in the family Prunellidae. It is found in Afghanistan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Their natural habitat ...
s, water pipit
The water pipit (''Anthus spinoletta'') is a small passerine bird which breeds in the mountains of Southern Europe and the Palearctic eastwards to China. It is a short-distance migrant; many birds move to lower altitudes or wet open lowlands i ...
s, plain mountain finch
The plain mountain finch (''Leucosticte nemoricola'') is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. Its natural habitat is temperate grassland, upland forest and rocky cliffs. It is a resident breeder across the Himalayas. Their color and pa ...
es, black-headed mountain finches, crimson-winged finches, red-mantled rosefinch
The red-mantled rosefinch (''Carpodacus rhodochlamys'') is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae.
It is found in Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Its natural habitats are ...
es, Caucasian great rosefinches and red-fronted rosefinches.
References
Important Bird Areas of Tajikistan Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region {{Tajikistan-geo-stub