The section ‘Kizlyar Bay’

The section ‘Kizlyar Bay’ is located in Tarumovka district in the north-east of Daghestan, near the mouth of the Kuma River. The territory covers marine shallows and a slightly inclined to the sea terrace of the west Caspian coast. The shores of the bay are represented by an extended area of shallow flats.

Waters of the bay are freshened; the average depth is approximately 1.5 m. Because of wind-driven tides the water level in the bay, in case of strong winds, can vary considerably. The shallow part of the area is occupied by a broad stripe of reedbeeds cut by canals, multiple reaches and backwaters.

Vegetation is represented by a variety of transitions between reedbed areas, marshy and floodplain meadows. Distancing from the water meadows turn into semi-desert grassy-wormwood and saltwort-wormwood complexes. The flora of Kizlyar area includes such rare and protected species as Cladium mariscus, Trapa hyrcana, Utricularia vulgaris, Salvinia natans and others.

Waters of the bay are inhabited by about 70 species and subspecies of marine, anadromous, semi-anadromous and river fish, including such rare and vanishing forms as Acipenser nudiventris, Salmo trutta caspius, Stenodus leucichthys, Sabanejewia caucasica. Kizlyar Bay is the only territory at the Caspian coast, where the spawning of a majority of fish passes directly in the seawater.

Fauna of the bay is also remarkable by a large variety of birds, among which many species are entered into the Red Data Books of Russia and Daghestan (the Dalmatian Pelican, Pygmy Cormorant, Glossy Ibis, White-tailed Eagle, Lesser White-fronted Goose, Demoiselle Crane, Black-winged Pratincole, Stone Curlew, etc.). The bay is also an extremely important stopover for valuable game commercial birds for which there are good conditions for roosting, fattening and waiting in case of bad weather conditions. Kizlyar Bay is designated to be an important bird area of global significance as a site for breeding, wintering and migration of rare and protected bird species. The section ‘Kizlyar Bay’ and surrounding areas hold a total of 216 species of birds.