Fereydunkenar () is a city in the

Central District Central District may refer to: Places * Central District (Botswana) * Central district, Plovdiv, Bulgaria * Central District, Xiamen, China, now Siming District, Fujian * Central, Hong Kong, also called Central District * List of Central District ...

Fereydunkenar County Fereydunkenar County () is in Mazandaran Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari, Iran, Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz m ...

Mazandaran Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari, Iran, Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range and Hyrcanian forests, it is border ...

province,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, serving as capital of both the county and the district.

Demographics

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 34,452 in 9,278 households, when it was capital of the former Fereydunkenar District of

Babolsar County Babolsar County () is in Mazandaran province, Iran, on the Caspian Sea. Its capital is the city of Babolsar. History After the 2006 National Census, Fereydunkenar District was separated from the county in the establishment of Fereydunkenar ...

. The following census in 2011 counted 36,192 people in 10,922 households, by which time the district had been separated from the county in the establishment of Fereydunkenar County. Fereydunkenar was transferred to the new Central District as the county's capital. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 38,154 people in 12,606 households.

Illegal bird hunting issues

Fereydunkenar is known as an important wintering site for migratory

waterbirds A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

, including endangered species such as the

Siberian crane The Siberian crane (''Leucogeranus leucogeranus''), also known as the Siberian white crane or the snow crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the crane (bird), cranes. They are distinctive among the cranes: adults are nearly all White, snowy whi ...

. However, the region has been a hotspot for illegal bird hunting, which has raised concerns among conservationists and environmental organizations. Traditional bird trapping practices, such as the use of mist nets and decoys, have been criticized for their impact on migratory birds, particularly in the context of the Fereydunkenar and Sorkhrud Wetland Complex, a key stopover for waterfowl along the

Central Asian flyway The Central Asian Flyway (CAF), Central Asian-Indian Flyway, or Central Asian-South Asian Flyway is a flyway covering a large continental area of Eurasia between the Arctic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the associated island chains. The CAF compris ...

. Despite official efforts to regulate hunting activities, illegal bird hunting persists in the area. In 2018, the Department of Environment of Mazandaran Province announced strict enforcement measures to prevent violations. Nevertheless, reports indicate that thousands of migratory birds are still poached annually in Fereydunkenar and surrounding wetlands, posing a threat to

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

in the region.

Climate

Notes

References