|Central coordinates||54o 11.00' East 17o 1.00' North|
|IBA criteria||A1, A4i, B1i, B2, B3|
|Altitude||0 - 10m|
|Year of IBA assessment||1994|
Site description A long (c.2 km), thin coastal lagoon by Salalah town, broadening inland and fed by substantial but variable freshwater inflow from Wadi Sahnut. A gravel road crosses the sandbar which separates the lagoon from the sea, though this is still sometimes breached. The water surface is partly open, with the margins mostly rocky and lined with dense Phragmites, Juncus and sedges, but also with some open, sandy, grassy banks. The east side is busy with sardine-drying activity, and the site is surrounded by developed or fenced land. The marginal vegetation is heavily browsed by camels.
Key Biodiversity See box for key species. Other notable wintering species include Bubulcus ibis (64), Ardea cinerea (75), Circus aeruginosus (5) and Larus ridibundus (1,100). Other notable passage migrants include Aquila clanga (6, March), Pluvialis fulva (80, March) and Calidris alba (300, April). A total of 189 species has been recorded, including a very wide variety of waterbirds.
Non-bird biodiversity: Flora: at least three species on the Salalah coastal plain are endemic or near-endemic to Oman, and some may be present at this site.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca||passage||1993||16 individuals||medium||B1i, B2||Near Threatened|
|Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris||passage||1993||2 individuals||poor||B2||Least Concern|
|Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis||non-breeding||1993||2,000 individuals||medium||A1, A4i, B1i||Vulnerable|
|Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus||resident||1993||present||-||B2||Endangered|
|Sooty Gull Larus hemprichii||non-breeding||1993||1,300 individuals||medium||A4i, B1i, B3||Least Concern|
|Greater Crested Tern Thalasseus bergii||passage||1993||600 individuals||medium||B1i||Least Concern|
|Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii||non-breeding||1993||30 individuals||medium||A4i, B1i||Least Concern|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Land-use||Extent (% of site)|
Acknowledgements Data-sheet compiled by Simon Albrecht; summary bird data supplied by Oman Bird Records Committee (per Jens Eriksen).
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Recommended citation BirdLife International (2015) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Khawr ad Dahariz. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 31/07/2015
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