Grand Bénard – Tapcal Important Bird Area is a 1500 ha tract of land on the island of

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

, a French territory in the western

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

Description

It comprises the rugged terrain around the 2896 m peak of Grand Bénard on the

Piton des Neiges The Piton des Neiges (Snow Peak) is a complex volcano on Réunion, one of the French volcanic islands in the Mascarene Archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean. It is located about east of Madagascar. Piton des Neiges is the highest poin ...

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

massif A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...

, including parts of the

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

rims of Mafate and

Cilaos Cilaos () is a town and commune in France, commune on the France, French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. It is located centrally on the island, in a caldera of altitude 1,214 m. The caldera (usually known as the 'Cirque') is also named fo ...

, and the forest of Tapcal. The exposed ridges and peaks are mostly bare rock, while the more sheltered slopes are covered with

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

. Tapcal contains native mixed

mountain forest A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

Birds

The site 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) because it supports breeding colonies of

Barau's petrel Barau's petrel (''Pterodroma baraui'') is a medium-sized gadfly petrel from the family Procellariidae. Its main breeding site is the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. Etymology The name commemorates Armand Barau, an agricultural engineer a ...

s (1000-1500 breeding pairs) and

tropical shearwater The tropical shearwater (''Puffinus bailloni'') is a seabird in the family Procellariidae formerly considered conspecific with Audubon's shearwater (''Puffinus lherminieri''). Subspecies There are five listed subspecies of the tropical shearwa ...

s (300 pairs) as well as populations of

Mascarene swiftlet The Mascarene swiftlet or Mauritius swiftlet (''Aerodramus francicus'') is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is found in Mauritius and Réunion, and the populations on the two islands have recently been confirmed to differ subspecifica ...

Mascarene paradise flycatcher The Mascarene paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone bourbonnensis'') is a species of bird in the monarch-flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the Mascarene islands of Mauritius and Réunion. There are two subspecies recognized: the nomin ...

Réunion bulbul The Réunion bulbul (''Hypsipetes borbonicus'') is a species of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is endemic to Réunion. Taxonomy and systematics The Réunion bulbul was originally described in the genus ''Turdus''. Formerly, some author ...

s, Mascarene white-eyes,

Réunion olive white-eye The Réunion olive white-eye (''Zosterops olivaceus'') is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is found on Réunion. Its natural habitats are boreal forests and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland. Description like the ...

s and

Réunion stonechat The Réunion stonechat (''Saxicola tectes'') is a species of stonechat, endemic to the French Indian Ocean island of Réunion. It is found across the island in forests, shrublands and artificial environments such as gardens and plantations. This ...

References

Important Bird Areas of Réunion Seabird colonies {{Réunion-geo-stub