Number of flamingos vs. water level and salinity in Lake Urmia, Iran

Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) are one of the most prominent bird species of Lake Urmia, which use the islands of the lake for breeding and feed extensively on Artemia (Asem et al., 2014). Since flamingos comprise both a winter migratory population and a local breeding population (Asem et al., 2014), they are dependent on the abundance of Artemia and thus the level and salinity of the lake. In the UNDP-GEF project for Conservation of Iranian Wetlands, flamingos were selected as an indicator bird species of the lake biodiversity(DOE and UNDP, 2009). Flamingos may choose other food items in brackish/freshwater wetlands when Artemia populations are insufficient (Johnson and Cezily, 1975). This data contains the flamingo counts in both Lake Urmia and the Gharahgheshlagh wetland, the largest brackish wetland at the south part of the lake. Bird count usually is carried out annually in late January. We linked the sum counts of flamingos in Lake Urmia and the Gharahgheshlagh wetland with the lake water level.