Birds of Turkish Wetlands: Lakes, Deltas, and Marshes

Turkish wetlands support different bird communities in open lakes, river deltas, coastal lagoons, saline basins, reed marshes, wet meadows, reservoirs, and shallow sea margins. The 2024 national Midwinter Waterbird Census recorded 1,684,756 waterbirds from 106 named species at 165 active sites; all 106 species are included below. This is a winter census, not a complete list of every bird that breeds, migrates through, or feeds in Türkiye’s wetlands during the year.[a]

A National Wetland Register and a Winter Census Measure Different Things

The Ministry’s wetland register currently states that Türkiye has 139 designated wetlands: 14 Ramsar Sites, 59 wetlands of national importance, and 66 wetlands of local importance.[b] The 2024 census visited 179 sites in 57 provinces, including reservoirs, coasts, river mouths, and other count units that do not all appear as separate entries in that designation register. Fourteen visited sites produced no waterbird observations because of freezing, snow, drying, or related field conditions, leaving 165 active count sites.

The census was carried out from 11 to 25 January 2024, close to the period when wintering waterbirds are least mobile and most concentrated. International Waterbird Census coverage includes grebes, cormorants, pelicans, herons, storks, ibises, spoonbills, flamingos, ducks, geese, swans, cranes, rails, shorebirds, gulls, and terns; wetland-dependent raptors and kingfishers may also be reported.[c] This explains why the national list contains Western Marsh Harrier, Osprey, White-tailed Eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle, and three kingfishers alongside ducks and waders.

Deltas, Lakes, Saline Basins, and Marshes Select Different Birds

A wetland’s bird assemblage depends on water depth, salinity, exposed sediment, aquatic vegetation, fish supply, reed structure, nearby grassland, and seasonal flooding. Türkiye’s best-known wetland complexes often combine several of these conditions within one site. BirdLife describes the Gediz Delta as a mosaic of lagoons, reedbeds, fresh and saltwater marshes, salt meadows, wet and dry meadows, seasonally flooded ground, islets, farmland, and shrubland; its cumulative inventory includes 303 bird species.[d]

Where the 2024 Winter Count Was Concentrated

The ten highest-count sites held both natural wetlands and human-regulated waters. Beyşehir Lake led with 249,113 recorded individuals, followed by Kızılırmak Delta with 158,903. High totals at Akyatan Lagoon, Uluabat Lake, Gediz Delta, Meriç Delta, Manyas Lake, and Büyük Menderes Delta show the importance of shallow lakes and delta mosaics, while Hirfanlı Reservoir shows that a reservoir can also hold a large midwinter concentration.

One Winter Visit and a Cumulative Site Inventory Are Not Interchangeable

Kızılırmak Delta had the highest 2024 winter richness in the national count, with 64 named species, and Gediz Delta followed with 60. Those figures are much lower than their cumulative site inventories because a January count excludes many spring and autumn passage birds, summer breeders, scarce visitors, and species that are difficult to detect during a single survey window. The UNESCO tentative-list dossier reports 352 bird species recorded in Kızılırmak Delta across seasons and habitats.[e]

The 106 Named Species Recorded in KOSKS 2024

The checklist below reproduces every named species in Table 3 of the 2024 national report. English common names are standardized for clarity, while the scientific-name column preserves the names printed in the source so the count remains auditable against the original document. “Status printed in the report” is the category carried by that 2024 table; it is not a substitute for checking a live Red List assessment. LC means Least Concern, NT means Near Threatened, VU means Vulnerable, and EN means Endangered.

Ducks, Geese, and Swans

Divers, Grebes, Cormorants, Pelicans, Herons, Rails, Cranes, Raptors, and Kingfishers

Plovers, Sandpipers, and Other Shorebirds

Gulls, Terns, and Seabirds

Taxonomic Updates Should Not Be Mistaken for Different Count Records

Global bird lists change genera, species limits, and English names as evidence is reviewed. IOC World Bird List version 15.2 is a current global reference, but the KOSKS report predates that release and retains older combinations for several species.[f] BirdLife also maintains its own taxonomic treatment for Red List and conservation work, so a name may differ between a national report, IOC, BirdLife, and eBird/Clements without referring to a different field observation.[g]

Breeding, Passage, and Secretive Marsh Birds Extend Beyond the January List

The winter checklist is strongest for conspicuous birds on open water and exposed shores. It is less suited to documenting the full annual use of reedbeds, wet grasslands, rice fields, seasonally flooded meadows, and migration stopovers. Dense vegetation reduces detection of rails, crakes, bitterns, and reedbed passerines; summer breeders may be absent in January; and many shorebirds pass through Türkiye mainly in spring or autumn.

Kızılırmak Delta illustrates the difference. Its cumulative dossier includes records such as Marbled Duck, Great Snipe, Aquatic Warbler, several Yellow Wagtail forms, and other passage or breeding birds that do not appear in the 106-species national winter table. The absence of a species from KOSKS 2024 therefore means it was not listed in that census result, not that it is absent from Turkish wetlands.

Current Red List Checks Can Differ from the 2024 Report Column

The live BirdLife factsheet retains White-headed Duck as Endangered.[h] KOSKS counted 3,623 individuals, including 3,585 at Uluabat Lake, making that single-site result especially important within the national winter dataset. Common Pochard remains treated as Vulnerable in BirdLife’s assessment material; 40,520 were recorded nationally, with the largest reported site total at Uluabat Lake.[i]

The census table printed Grey Plover as Least Concern, but BirdLife’s live factsheet now lists it as Vulnerable after evidence of rapid declines.[j] Curlew Sandpiper, another shorebird now treated as Vulnerable, was not among the 106 named KOSKS 2024 species, although it can occur in Turkish wetland passage assemblages.[k] These examples show why the count value, source-table category, and current global assessment should be stored as separate fields.

Water Level and Shoreline Form Redistribute Birds Within the Same Wetland

Deep open water favours diving ducks, grebes, loons, and fish-eating cormorants, while shallow vegetated water supports many dabbling ducks, coots, swamphens, and herons. Falling water can expose mud that attracts plovers and sandpipers, yet prolonged drying may remove aquatic food, isolate reedbeds from open water, and eliminate secure roosts. A lower water level can therefore create short-lived shorebird habitat while reducing habitat for other groups.

Salinity also divides assemblages. Flamingos and several shorebirds exploit hypersaline or brackish shallows where invertebrate prey is concentrated, whereas many freshwater ducks depend on submerged plants, seeds, and freshwater invertebrates. At deltas, the meeting of river water, lagoons, saltmarsh, wet meadow, farmland, and the sea allows these groups to occur close together without using the same microhabitat.

For Turkish wetland birds, habitat labels such as “lake” or “delta” are only starting points. Water depth, hydroperiod, salinity, vegetation structure, exposed sediment, disturbance, and food availability determine which species can feed, roost, or breed at a site in a given season.

Sources and Verification

1. [a] Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry — 2024 Midwinter Waterbird Census Report — Used for the survey dates, site coverage, national total, site totals, all 106 named species, scientific names printed in the report, count values, and report-era status fields.
2. [b] Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry — Wetland Register — Used for the stated total and designation breakdown of Ramsar, nationally important, and locally important wetlands.
3. [c] Wetlands International — International Waterbird Census — Used to define the bird groups normally covered by coordinated waterbird counts and the inclusion of other wetland-dependent birds.
4. [d] BirdLife International — Gediz Delta — Used for the delta’s habitat mosaic and reported cumulative bird inventory.
5. [e] UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Kızılırmak Delta Wetland and Bird Sanctuary — Used for the cumulative site inventory, habitat range, and examples of breeding and passage records beyond the winter census.
6. [f] IOC World Bird List — Version 15.2 — Used as the current global naming reference for taxonomic comparison with the 2024 national report.
7. [g] BirdLife DataZone — Taxonomy — Used to explain why conservation sources and other global checklists may apply different taxonomic treatments.
8. [h] BirdLife DataZone — White-headed Duck — Used for the live global Red List category checked against the national winter count.
9. [i] BirdLife DataZone — Common Pochard — Used for the live global conservation assessment associated with the KOSKS count record.
10. [j] BirdLife DataZone — Grey Plover — Used to verify the current category that differs from the category printed in the 2024 census table.
11. [k] BirdLife DataZone — Curlew Sandpiper — Used for the current global category of a passage shorebird not listed in the 2024 named-species table.