The Water Reservoirs of the Confluence of the BistriþA With The Siret River (Eastern Romania) - An Important Bird Area

Abstract

The confluence zone between the Bistriþa and Siret rivers lies in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. Five reservoirs have been created there for generating electrical energy. The water bodies have a total length of 46.5 km and an area of 5.391 ha (Lilieci: 262 ha - 6 km; Bacãu II: 202 ha - 5 km; Galbeni: 1.123 ha - 7 km; Rãcãciuni: 2.004 ha - 13 km; Bereşti: 1.800 ha - 15.5 km). The number of bird species identified in the area, about 210 in all, represents only 36% of the total. The species that also have in their phenology migratory aspects are in a proportion of 90%. This shows that these lakes are important to the full development of autumn and spring migration in the eastern Carpathians escarpment, for populations in northern Europe. For some species, the zone has begun to represent an important station for wintering. Agglomerations are exceeding over 100,000 individuals for each of the lakes. Over 60% of bird species belong to the European and Transpalearctic fauna, and 20% are Siberian and Arctic. With regard to the importance that these wetlands represent for the bird population of northern and eastern Europe, they have been declared an Important Bird Area.KeywordsBird SpeciesSpring MigrationCarpathian MountainBiodiversity AssessmentNorthern SpeciesThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.