Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information This 645,856 ha area has 411 recorded species of which 310 are residents, 295 are known or thought to breed in the area, 116 are species not known to nest in the area and 101 that are considered migrants. These include species that meet the A1, A2, A3, A4i trigger criteria.

Site description This IBA encompasses various large terrestrial protected areas in Belize. It is comprised of the Sibun, Vaca, Chiquibul, Maya Mountain, Sittee River, Columbia River, Manatee, Deep River and Mountain Pine ridge Forest Reserves. It includes the following 7 national parks: Five Blues Lake, St. Herman’s and Blue Hole, Billy Barquedeer, Nojkaaxmeen Eligio Panti, Mayflower Bocawina and Payne’s Creek. Three Archaeological Reserves, Barton Creek, Caves Branch and Caracol, are included. Additional protected areas within this IBA include the Bladen Nature Reserve, Victoria Peak and Thousand Foot Falls Natural Monuments and the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. There are also three private reserves within this IBA: Golden Stream, Block 127 and Runaway Creek.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Actun Tunichil Muknal	Natural Monument	185	protected area overlaps with site	185
Barton Creek	Archaelogical Reserve	1	protected area overlaps with site	1
Billy Barquedeer	National Park	663	protected area overlaps with site	607
Bladen	Nature Reserve	40,412	protected area overlaps with site	40,339
Caracol	Archaelogical Reserve	10,340	protected area overlaps with site	10,117
Caves Branch	Archaelogical Reserve	6	protected area overlaps with site	6
Chiquibul	Forest Reserve	59,822	protected area overlaps with site	59,854
Chiquibul	National Park	106,839	protected area overlaps with site	107,348
Cockscomb Basin	Wildlife Sanctuary	49,477	protected area overlaps with site	35,180
Columbia River	Forest Reserve	60,016	protected area overlaps with site	41,659
Deep River	Forest Reserve	27,232	protected area overlaps with site	31,798
Five Blues Lake	National Park	1,644	protected area overlaps with site	1,643
Manatee	Forest Reserve	36,576	protected area overlaps with site	3,300
Maya Mountain	Forest Reserve	16,888	protected area overlaps with site	51,846
Mayflower Bocawina	National Park	2,868	protected area overlaps with site	2,876
Mountain Pine Ridge	Forest Reserve	43,372	protected area overlaps with site	51,477
Nojkaaxmeen Eligio Panti	National Park	5,131	protected area overlaps with site	5,235
Sibun	Forest Reserve	32,848	protected area overlaps with site	42,966
Sittee River	Forest Reserve	37,359	protected area overlaps with site	37,938
St. Herman's Blue Hole	National Park	269	protected area overlaps with site	269
Tapir Mountain	Nature Reserve	2,549	protected area overlaps with site	2,729
Thousand Foot Falls	Natural Monument	522	protected area overlaps with site	522
Vaca	Forest Reserve	14,118	protected area overlaps with site	21,187
Victoria Peak	Natural Monument	1,959	protected area overlaps with site	1,962

Habitats

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Maya Mountains and southern reserves. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/05/2013

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