Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
A complex of shallow marshes, reedbeds (
Phragmites), freshwater lakes and salt-steppe situated in the Ereðli plain and bordered by mountains to the north and south. The lakes cover 6,400 ha at their maximum extent and are fed by drainage channels. The area also includes surrounding agricultural land, parts of which flood during winter. Human activities include crop production, sheep-grazing and reed-cutting (`Other' land-use).
The IBA is very important for a range of breeding waterbirds, although numbers have fallen in recent years due to low water-levels. Winter counts that have produced up to 30,000 waterbirds in the past have also shown a large decline, again due to low water-levels and the effects of severe winters.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
As a result of reduced water inputs the lake has retreated drastically, and thousands of hectares of wetland have been converted to agriculture. Further irrigation is planned. Inputs are expected to cease entirely once two new reservoirs have been constructed. Agricultural, industrial and untreated urban pollutants enter the lake via drainage channels. Military usage of the Ereðli plain may increase.
National High
International None6,787 ha of IBA covered by Nature Reserve (Ereðli Sazlýðý, 6,787 ha). 37,000 ha of IBA covered by SÝT (Ereðli Sazlýðý, 37,000 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ereğli Plain (Türkiye). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ereğli-plain-iba-türkiye on 22/11/2024.
