Shorebirds in the Gediz Delta (İzmir, Turkey): breeding and wintering abundances, distributions, and seasonal occurrences

The present study describes breeding and wintering abundances, distributions, and seasonal occurrences of shorebirds (waders) in the Gediz Delta (İzmir-Turkey). Breeding abundance and distribution, and wintering abundance data were collected by carrying out breeding bird surveys in 2002 and 2006, and waterbird censuses between 1990 and 2007, respectively. Seasonal occurrences were determined using 432 different observations corresponding to 5043 different records between 1990 and 2007. Thirty-eight wader species were observed with a weekly average of 22.5 ± 4.0. Breeding evidence was obtained for 9 species in 2002 and 8 species in 2006. Average number of waders identified during yearly mid-winter waterbird census was 8731 ± 2530, corresponding to 42.2 ± 25.9% of the whole wintering wader population in Turkey. During the present study 11 species were encountered in internationally significant numbers. The Gediz Delta is one of the key sites in the Western Palearctic region for breeding, wintering, and migrating waders.