The Avifauna of Lake Seyfe

Abstract

Turkey has a great ornithological importance, due to its geographical location, topography, wide territory and different climatic types. From a biodiversity perspective, wetlands are one of the most important areas. Lake Seyfe is one of the important wetlands with economic and ecological value. After being declared a Natural Protected Area in 1989, Lake Seyfe, which gained the status of Natural Protection Area in 1990 and finally declared Ramsar Site in 1994, is extremely important for birds. The lake meets 3 out of 9 Criteria for Identifying Wetlands of International Importance. The research aims to determine bird species of Lake Seyfe by gathering the information contained in the literature covering all observations made in the following years, in addition to the regular field studies conducted weekly between 1996 and 1998. Therefore, a list of birds obtained from all observations made between 1996-2019 has been created. As a result, 26 orders, 57 families, 242 species and 4 subspecies were identified in the site. 20 of the recorded species are globally endangered according to the IUCN red list criteria. Lake Seyfe, an internationally important wetland, is also an important feeding and visiting place for birds during migration.