Wild Swan & Waterbird Spectacle: A 3-Day Winter Itinerary in Enez & Gala Lake
The Region
The Lake Gala National Park , established on March 5, 2005, is a national park located within Edirne Province in North Western Marmara region of Turkey.
The national park covers an area consisting of Lake Pamuklu and Lake Küçük Gala within the boundaries of İpsala and Enez districts of Edirne Province. It is 290 km from Istanbul.
Fauna
Birds
The park is quite rich of bird genera. The area hosts around 45,000 birds. Some 163 bird species are observed in the area, of which 46 are resident, 27 winter migratory and 90 summer migratory birds. Best time to observe most of the bird species all together is between April and May in the spring, and September and October in the fall.
In February 2018, it was reported that nearly ten thousand flamingos arrived at the lake for the first time to overwinter because of the mild winter weather, in addition to ducks, geese and trumpeter swans.
Fish
The two lakes are home to 16 fish genera, including European eel (Anguilla anguilla), zander (Stizostedion lucioperca), common carp (Cyprinus carpi) and northern pike (Esox lucius), which are of high economic value.