Migration of birds involves long hours of flight interspersed with time spent at stopover sites. Identification and conservation of stopover sites is crucial for the conservation of migratory bird populations. We set out to investigate the passage migrant avifauna of Sarakhs county, northeastern Iran, to determine the importance of this region for stopovers. Of 76 species of waterbirds and shorebirds that we recorded during our survey, 2007–2013, 26 species were passage migrants, mostly recorded on artificial wetlands in the county. Nine of these species were new records for northeast Iran. Our results indicate that the artificial waterbodies built in the area serve as important stopover sites for migratory waterbirds and waders, attracting birds outside their usual distributional range. We believe that conservation of these valuable habitats and the migratory birds that depend on them is possible through involvement of the private owners, mostly through encouraging birdwatching activities and ecotourism.