Kyzylagach National Park, Nature reserve in Lankaran, Azerbaijan

Kyzylagach National Park covers 88,360 hectares on the Caspian coast of Lankaran District, including the Bolshoy Kyzylagach Bay (40,500 ha, maximum depth 2.5 m) and the northern part of the Maly Kyzylagach Bay (5,200 ha). The land is a flat, slightly raised semi-desert below sea level with saline soils, reed beds and shrubs along the shores. The reserve also takes in part of the Sara Peninsula and part of the Kurinskaya Spit.

The bay was first charted in 1720. In 1926 the waters of the Great and part of the Small Kyzylagach bays and adjacent land became a zakaznik, and on 3 June 1929 the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR created the Kyzylagach Reserve as an all-union reserve for migratory game birds. In 1935 the bay was renamed Kirov Bay and the reserve took Sergei Kirov's name; it reverted to Kyzylagach in 1991. It joined the Ramsar list in 1976 and was re-listed by independent Azerbaijan in 2001.

The name comes from the Kızılağacay river, "alder river" in Azerbaijani, though a popular explanation links it to the pink flamingos of the shallow bay, called "pink trees". The reserve lies 35 km from Lankaran, the district centre, and its marshes and reed beds are the setting for the winter gatherings of waterfowl that gave the area its reputation.

The reserve lies 35 km from Lankaran, on the Caspian shore; the main waters are the Bolshoy Kyzylagach Bay (40,500 ha, up to 2.5 m deep) and the smaller Maly Bay (5,200 ha). The terrain is flat and below sea level, with salt-marsh and semi-desert ground, so access is easiest by road from Lankaran. Winter is when ducks, geese, swans, pelicans and flamingos gather in numbers.

The reserve's name comes from the Kızılağac River, whose name means "alder river" in Azerbaijani, though some link it to the pink flamingos that gather in the shallow bay. In 1935 the bay was renamed Kirov Bay after Soviet official Sergei Kirov, and the reserve bore his name until 1991.