• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (1994 baseline)
A group of marshes in the Diyala valley between Baquba and Shahraban, c.75 km north-east of Baghdad. These include Haur Abu Abbas (33°50'N 44°45'E, a shallow freshwater lake, c.500-1,000 ha), Haur Shaikh Sayed (33°51'N 44°46'E, by 1972 a lake of only 10 ha, almost drained), Haur Al Ahmar (34°00'N 44°55'E, freshwater, c.600 ha), Haur Al Habara, Haur Abdul Warid, Haur Al Ugur (34°00'N 44°55'E) and a rain-flooded area near Shahraban (Al Miqdadiyah). At Haur Al Ahmar the flat shore is covered with dense reedbeds, and mudflats are exposed at low water; the area surrounding the southern shore area is fertile cultivation, with cotton, corn, date-palm groves and orchards, and the lake serves for irrigation of these.

Key biodiversity
The site is important for wintering waterbirds, e.g. 39,900 wildfowl were present in January 1968. Other wintering species include Circus aeruginosus (17), Remiz pendulinus (4, Haur Al Ahmar) and Corvus frugilegus (5,000, Haur Al Ahmar); Anthus spinoletta is common. There is little information from other times of year, but Coracias garrulus has bred. The entire area was listed as a wetland of international importance by Carp (1980).

Non-bird biodiversity: No information available to BirdLife International.

Acknowledgements
Data-sheet compiled by Pavel Ctyroky.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Baquba wetlands (Iraq). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/baquba-wetlands-iba-iraq on 22/11/2024.