The 8.000-hectare İzmir Bird Paradise on the Çiğli Çamaltı Salt Marsh 26km from Karşıyaka, İzmir, is home to 291 species of birds including flamingos, dalmatian pelicans, small white herons, grey herons, storks, reed harriers, kestrels, Eurasian coots, rural pipits, kingfishers, poyraz birds, Eurasian thick-knees, little terns, owlets, Calandra larks, crested larks, black-winged stilts, spur-winged plovers, black-tailed godwits and redshanks. The saltwater fishponds, salt marshes, and freshwater from the reeds provide natural fish and other bird food sources. Çiğli Bird Paradise, a significant Eurasian-African migratory route, was certified as a protected waterfowl conservation and breeding ground in 1982.
İzmir Bird Paradise Visitor Center (İzmir Kuş Cenneti Ziyaretçi Merkez), Süzbeyli, 35665 Menemen/İzmir.
İzmir Bird Paradise is one of the world’s most important flamingo hatcheries. In 2016, almost 15,000 flamingo chicks were born in the artificially-formed breeding area, one of the largest in the world at nearly 6,500 square metres.