We are now going to watch the Athalassa park dam

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2Km from the centre of the capital city of Cyprus, Nicosia is the national forest park of Athalassa. Inside the park since 1962 there is the dam of Athalassa. This dam has 0.8 million cubic meters capacity. Besides its main purpose, to store water, this dam has a great biodiversity of birds and people interested in bird watching are visiting every day. This is why a bird observation hideout has been build near the dam. Many species of birds inhabit, visit or breed in this area such as egrets and kingfishers. This spring the Ferruginous duck (Aythya nyroca) which is a species globally concerned, has been seen in Athalassa Dam breeding, hoping that this migratory bird will visit the area again next year. Now Athalassa is the third Cyprus breading site for vulnerable species. The flora around the dam is mainly consisted from Tamarix, Arundo donax, juncus, Rumex dentatus and several more hydrophilic plants.