Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
A shallow, brackish, coastal lake just to the west of, and bordering, the town of Burgas, and connected to the Black Sea by a canal with a sluice. Reedbeds of
Phragmites and
Typha fringe most of the shoreline, where salt-tolerant vegetation is dominated by
Puccinellia.
The complex is important for wintering and migrating waterbirds, especially for wildfowl such as geese (
Anser albifrons and the globally threatened
Branta ruficollis) and ducks (e.g.
Aythya spp. and the globally threatened
Oxyura leucocephala). Pelicans
Pelecanus also rest here in notable numbers. Species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria:
Pelecanus crispus (max. 10 in winter and on passage),
Aythya nyroca (breeding).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The IBA and surroundings suffer from high levels of industrial and chemical pollution, and the continued construction of industrial and residential districts also poses a threat. The lake is monitored by BSPB under the Bulgarian-Swiss Biodiversity Conservation Programme.
National Partial
International None397 ha of IBA covered by Protected Landscape (Vaya, 397 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Burgasko Lake (Bulgaria). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/burgasko-lake-iba-bulgaria on 22/11/2024.
