Data Zone
Country/territory: Iraq
IBA criteria met: A1, A4i, A4iii, B1i, B2 (1994)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 15,000 hectares (150.00 km2)
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2013 | not assessed | very high | very low |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (1994 baseline)
Haur Om Am Nyaj is a large wetland about 20 km south-east of Amara. It comprises extensive Typha beds with many areas of open water and fast-running creeks, and is partly permanent and partly seasonal. The haur lies at the north-western extremity of Haur Al Hawizeh and is fed by the Al Kahala (Chahala) river, a distributary of the Tigris. The Qalit Salih ponds (31°30'N 47°20'E, 100 ha) lie at the southern end of Haur Om Am Nyaj, and are a group of fresh to brackish impoundments used for duck-netting, on the east bank of the River Tigris near the town of Qalit Salih, west of the Haur Al Hawizeh marshes.
Key biodiversity
Haur Om Am Nyaj was visited briefly in January 1975, and found to be an important area for Phalacrocorax pygmeus. The Qalit Salih ponds were visited in January 1979; species included Pelecanus onocrotalus (92), Phoenicopterus ruber (500), Anas crecca (10,000) and Recurvirostra avosetta (250). There was a breeding colony of c.200 Nycticorax nycticorax on the Al Kahala river in the 1970s and a 'very big roost' of N. nycticorax near Qalit Salih in the 1910s may have been the same site.
Non-bird biodiversity: No information available to BirdLife International.
Acknowledgements
Information compiled by Dr D. A. Scott and D. J. Brooks, reviewed by Dr Khalid Y. Al-Dabbagh and Dr Hanna Y. Siman.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Haur Om am Nyaj (Iraq). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/haur-om-am-nyaj-iba-iraq on 26/12/2024.