Piton des Neiges – Gros Morne Important Bird Area

Piton des Neiges – Gros Morne Important Bird Area is a 2,000-hectare (7.7 sq mi) tract of land on the island of Réunion, a French territory in the western Indian Ocean.

View of the Piton des Neiges – Gros Morne massif from the Cilaos caldera

Description

The IBA comprises the Piton des Neiges – Gros Morne volcanic massif, the highest land on Réunion with a peak elevation of over 3000 m and the meeting point of the island's three calderas of Cilaos, Mafate and Salazie. The summit area is mainly bare rock and scree, while the lower parts of the site, from about 2800 m down to 2000 m above sea level, are vegetated with native alpine shrubland. The site has a mountain hut but no permanent inhabitants and is used recreationally by hikers and climbers.[1]

Birds

The site has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports a large breeding colony of Barau's petrels (3000–5000 breeding pairs) as well as populations of Réunion bulbuls, Mascarene white-eyes, Réunion olive white-eyes and Réunion stonechats.[1]

References
  1. "Piton des Neiges – Gros Morne". Important Bird Areas factsheet. BirdLife International. 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-16.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.