Check list of waterbirds at Wadi Djedi in Ziban Oasis-Algeria

Abstract

This pioneering work is the first to document the aquatic avifauna community of the Wadi Djedi in the Ziban region in southeast of Algeria. We present results obtained through the monthly counts of waterbirds conducted from September 2013 to September 2016. On this wetland we recorded 36 species of water birds representing 11 families. The Anatidae family was the most numerous, with 11 species. From among all the species, 18 were wintering species, nine were visitors, eight were sedentary breeding species (including the ruddy shelduck Tadorna furruginea and Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrines) and one species was migratory nesting (the white stork Ciconia ciconia). Two species (the teal marbled Marmaronetta angustirostris and ferruginous duck Aythya nyroca) are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of endangered species.

First observation of the breeding of common shelduck, Tadorna tadorna, in Algerian Saharan streams

“…A maximum of 57 individuals was reported at Djedi stream in November 2014 (Nouidjem et al, 2019), a small population compared to the 1,600 individuals reported at the Oued Righ wetland (Bensaci, Saheb, Nouidjem, Bouzegag, & Houhamdi, 2013;Nouidjem, 2008).…”

The drying of Lake Urmia and its consequences for waterbird assemblages

“…We also observed that families such as Laridae and Ardeidae (herons) had the highest number of species after the year 2000 (Figure 5). The previous studies found that herons showed a preference for shallow water and shallow shorelines because these provide suitable food resources (Chettibi et al 2019;Colwell and Taft 2000;Khaing and Sein 2019;Nouidjem et al 2019). Likewise, the gradual desiccation of saline lagoons along the West African coast (e.g.…”

Structure of waterbird assemblages in fragmented coastal wetlands of Northeastern Algeria

“…These previous studies reported temporal variation in the numbers of waterfowl according to the seasons of one or two annual cycles. Metallaoui and Houhamdi (2010) reported 47 species belonging to 15 families during one wintering period (August-April); Boudraa et al (2014) recorded 53 species (15 families) over one year; Elafri et al (2016) described 52 species belonging to 13 families over two annual cycles; and Nouidjem et al (2019) reported 36 species, 11 families in the southeast of Algeria. From the point of view of diversity pattern, all these ornithological studies showed that species belonging to the Anatidae family were widely distributed and occurred in all kinds of habitats (open water zone, shore zone, vegetation zone and riparian area) and the gathering and abundance of numerous duck species and coots were conditioned by the diversity of the existing vegetation cover.…”

“…From a 'specific richness' aspect, our study area was more frequented during winter, where for both sites a maximum of 42 species was recorded during January ( fig. 2B), thus equaling the ornithological value of the most important wetlands in Algeria (Samraoui et al, 2011;Metallaoui et al, 2014;Benradia et al, 2018;Nouidjem et al, 2019).…”

“…These ecosystems are part of a large Mediterranean eco-complex which is strongly exploited by many waterbird populations, often structured as metapopulations (Boulkhssaim et al, 2006;Samraoui et al, 2011). Several studies show that these zones meet one or more of the criteria required for an Important Bird Area 'IBA' (Samraoui and Samraoui, 2008;Baaziz et al, 2011;Benradia et al, 2018;Nouidjem et al, 2019) and constitute a valuable network of sites used each year by thousands of birds migrating between their breeding grounds in the Arctic and their wintering sites in southern Europe and North Africa.…”