Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
A flood-plain lying between natural levees and overlain by loess soils, situated adjacent to the River Danube and main Duna-völgyi canal between Kiskunlacháza and Szakmár. Human activities include cattle- and sheep-grazing, arable farming, angling and hunting. This area includes two sites that were treated as separate IBAs in the previous international IBA inventory (Grimmett and Jones 1989): `Kiskunsági szikes-tavak' (former site HU021) and `Harta-Akasztói puszta' (former site HU042).
An important area for lowland farmland birds and waterbirds. Species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria:
Phalacrocorax pygmeus and
Branta ruficollis (both on passage),
Aythya nyroca (6 breeding pairs), and
Haliaeetus albicilla (2 breeding pairs and 4 wintering birds).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The main threats are changes in habitat composition and quality caused both by the abandonment of grazing and by drought. A
Perdix perdix recovery project has begun in Apajpuszta, and the National Park Authority is working to increase the breeding success of
Otis tarda. MME/BirdLife Hungary provides artificial nesting-sites, and a management plan exists for the area. Wildfowl shooting is banned, and the enlargement of the National Park is in process.
National Partial
International Partial21,200 ha of IBA covered by National Park (Kiskunsági, 53,429 ha). 3,903 ha of IBA covered by Ramsar Site (Kiskunság, 3,903 ha). The IBA also overlaps with the Kiskunság Biosphere Reserve (22,095 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Alkaline pusztas of Upper Kiskunság (Hungary). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/alkaline-pusztas-of-upper-kiskunság-iba-hungary on 23/12/2024.
