Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See box for key species. The marshes support a variety of breeding waterfowl, notably Nycticorax nycticorax, Ardeola ralloides, Egretta garzetta, Plegadis falcinellus and Aythya nyroca, and there was a breeding colony of Podiceps nigricollis at the lake in 1972. The lake is an extremely important staging area for ducks, Fulica atra and shorebirds in autumn, regularly holding in excess of 100,000 birds. Species in especially high numbers have included Phoenicopterus ruber, Anas querquedula, A. clypeata, Aythya ferina and F. atra. Large numbers of ducks and F. atra stay on through very mild winters when the lake remains unfrozen. However the figures for F. atra given below date from the 1970s, and in recent years less than 2,000 have been recorded, a major decline.

Site description Lake Kobi (Ghopi Bob Ali) is a shallow, eutrophic, fresh to brackish lake with seasonally flooded marshes, on the plains 30 km south of Lake Uromiyeh and c.25 km north-east of Mahabad. The wetland receives its water from local rainfall, several springs, seepages and temporary watercourses fed by snow-melt, overflowing when full into marshland to the north and west. It regularly freezes in winter. The lake supports abundant submerged vegetation; there are extensive sedge marshes around much of the shore, and Phragmites beds occur in the south and to the north-west, together with some grassland. The whole area is surrounded by rolling steppic hills, with scattered settlements and cultivation to the north and south. Grazing of livestock and wildfowl hunting occur. Land ownership is public.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Lake Kobi	Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar)	1,200	is identical to site	1,200

Habitats

Land use

Other biodiversity None known to BirdLife International.

Management considerations The lake was designated a Ramsar Site in 1975, but there is no legal protection. No threats to the site are known.

References Carp (1980), Cornwallis (1976), Ramsar Convention Bureau (1993), Scott (1976a,c, 1978a).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Lake Kobi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/05/2013

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