Avifauna diversity of Bahr Al-Najaf Wetlands and the surrounding areas,Iraq

The bahr al-najaf area is a natural depression located in the 'middle euphrates' area in the upper part of southern iraq,170km southwest of baghdad. it represents a very important transitional area between the true desert regions to the west and the western limit of the alluvial plateau. the present study was conducted over the four seasons of 2015,and the area is located within latitudes (32° 09' 00 and 31° 48' 40),and longitudes (43° 52' 30 and 44° 22' 00) where seven sampling locations were selected to represent the different environmental features and landscapes present. one hundred and sixty-eight bird species were observed during the surveys. those bird species were resident breeding species or migrants (both wintering and passage). this illustrates the importance of the area in providing a suitable habitat for such a large spectrum of bird species that forms more than 40% of the entire checklist of the birds of iraq. based on the results of the current and previous studies,it seems that bahr al-najaf wetlands and the surrounding areas deserve more protection and management towards better conservation of the natural heritage of the area. © 2017 jordan journal of biological sciences.