Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
Fish-ponds overgrown with reeds, situated close to the bank of the River Danube. The aquatic vegetation is dominated by
Phragmites,
Trapa,
Nymphaea, as well as by
Typha in some places. In the western part of the ponds there is a seasonally flooded forest of
Fraxinus,
Tilia,
Ulmus and
Acer, as well as a small river fully overgrown with shrubs, acacia and grass. The ponds are surrounded by dry hills overgrown with acacia and steppe-like vegetation. Human activities includes fishery, reed-cutting (`Other' land-use, below), and hunting.
The ponds are of global importance for breeding and migrating
Aythya nyroca, migrating
Phalacrocorax pygmeus and wintering
Pelecanus crispus, and are one of the most important sites in Bulgaria for breeding
Ixobrychus minutus. Species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria:
Anser erythropus (max. 1 in winter),
Branta ruficollis (max. 20 in winter),
Haliaeetus albicilla (1 breeding pair; 2-7 birds along river in winter),
Aquila heliaca (max. 2 on passage),
Acrocephalus paludicola (max. 1 on passage). Significant proportion (³1%) of national population breeding at site:
Tadorna ferruginea (1 pair),
Porzana pusilla (1 pair).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The main problems are reed-cutting and the drying-out of ponds during the breeding season.
National None
International None
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mechka Fish-ponds (Bulgaria). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mechka-fish-ponds-iba-bulgaria on 23/11/2024.
