Çöl Gölü

About Çöl Gölü

Çöl Gölü is a shallow salt lake on the steppe south of Ankara, lying within the boundaries of Bala and Haymana districts. It fills a hollow at the southern end of the Çalıkdüzü closed basin, which covers about 147 square kilometres; the lake itself covers about 15 square kilometres (around 1,500 hectares) at roughly 1,045 metres above sea level. It is fed by small streams, its water is bitter and salty, and it shrinks considerably in summer. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism lists Çöl Gölü among the birdwatching sites of Ankara. Greater sand plovers (büyük cılıbıt) breed here, and large numbers of waterbirds spend the winter on the lake, among them ruddy shelducks (angıt), teals (çamurcun) and sakarca. Flamingos, white-headed ducks (dikkuyruk) and black-winged stilts (uzunbacak) usually appear after the breeding season. Other birds that breed in the area include mallards (yeşilbaş), pied avocets (kılıçgaga), Kentish plovers (akça cılıbıt) and northern lapwings (kızkuşu). Turkish Wikipedia also lists lesser short-toed larks, lesser kestrels, cranes, gull-billed terns and great bustards among the birds that breed or live around the lake at different times of year. The surrounding land is grazed natural steppe with low rainfall (about 443 mm a year), and the villages of Gölbek, Çeltek, Altınçanak and Gülbağı lie around the lake. This is open countryside rather than a developed park. Wikipedia notes two pressures on the site: a nearby television transmitter causes the deaths of birds coming down to the lake, and parts of the lake bed exposed as the water retreats have been turned into fields.