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

Site description (2000 baseline)
The River Drava is the largest river to flow through Slovenia. Due to numerous development schemes in the past, the river and its flood-plains are now one of the most ecologically degraded waterways in the country. The IBA is located between Maribor and Središèe ob Dravi on the Croatian border. Along this section the river is exploited in full, with large reservoirs and associated channels dividing up the entirety of the riverine countryside. Between the reservoirs (Ptujsko jezero, Ormoško jezero) there are still some large flood-plains which are periodically inundated. Flooded woodlands with meadows and wet grasslands are also present.

Key biodiversity
The site supports important numbers of wintering waterbirds (at the reservoirs) and of breeding birds of flooded forest, meadows, and gravel-banks, and is also an important bird-migration route. Species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria: Phalacrocorax pygmeus (max. 37 on passage), Aythya nyroca (15-60 on passage). Significant proportion (³1%) of national population breeding at site: Sylvia atricapilla (3,000-3,400 pairs), Lanius collurio (420-460 pairs). A total of 266 species have been recorded so far, of which 89 are regular or occasional breeders. Nycticorax nycticorax, Burhinus oedicnemus and Sterna albifrons were lost as breeders at the end of the 1970s after the construction of the last hydroelectric power-station on the river.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: River Drava (Slovenia). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/river-drava-iba-slovenia on 22/11/2024.