Ecotourism
Estonia

www.flickr.com

Estonia is located in the middle of the Eastern Atlantic migratory route of arctic waterfowl. It has been stimated that during the spring migration altogether up to 50 million waterfowl visit coastal wetlands of Estonia. Majority of them gather strength for their way further to the nesting places in the arctic regions of Russia.
 
During the first weeks of May at the peak of migration time Estonian bays meet huge amount of common coots, species of the Podicipedidae  family, ducks, geese, Branta species and swans. Almost the entire world population of tundra swan (10,000-20,000) and the majority of barnacle geese stay in Estonia at the time of spring migration. The most famous bird area lies around Matsalu Bay, a designated Ramsar site. In total,
there are eleven Ramsar sites and 14 potential Ramsar sites in Estonia. One of the main purposes of the international Ramsar convention is the protection of valuable wetlands for migratory birds.