Migration of Arctic waterfowl at Cape Põõsaspea

Every year the migration of arctic waterfowl is monitored at cape Põõsaspea and last years season came to a close on 6th of November. You can find preliminary numbers and comparison with previous years here ...

White-tailed Eagle / Photo: Juho Könönen

Cape Põõsaspea is one of the best places in the world to witness the  autumn migration of arctic waterfowl as birds moving south pass through a bottleneck between Cape Põõsaspea and Osmussaar Island (with a strait just 7 km wide). The birds become more concentrated in this narrow passage and counts can be incredibly high.  Many arctic and boreal birds that breed in north-western Russia between the White Sea and Taimyr migrate to and from their East-Atlantic wintering grounds through the Baltic Sea. Birds that use the Siberia /East-Atlantic Flyway include Long-tailed duck, Black and Velvet scoter, Barnacle goose, Brent goose and divers.

Cape Põõsaspea / Photo: Juho Könönen

Brent geese / Photo: Juho Könönen

Velvet scoters / Photo: Juho Könönen

The bird census data for 2014 revealed, that the number of Long-tailed Ducks breeding in tundra has decreased to almost half of the figure 10 years ago when 431 000 birds were counted. In 2009 the number was 307 000 and in 2014 only 283 000 birds were counted. Margus Ellermaa, the leader of the monitoring project, says: „Two-fold decrease of the abundance of Long-tailed Ducks, breeding in tundra during the last 10 years, is one of the most important conclusions of the bird-counting activities in Põõsaspea. This decrease is probably due to oil-contamination and low-quality food in the Baltic Sea.”

Long-tailed Ducks / Photo: Juho Könönen

Two years ago the Long-tailed Duck was acknowledged as a globally threatened species. Bird scientists are very worried about this species and this year are start work on an International Management Plan for Long-tailed Duck. Estonia has its role too: our task is to sort out on which sea areas mass winter-gatherings of Long-tailed Ducks are located, where they restore their energy supplies after migration and survive through the winter.