EE027
Kihnu strait


Country/territory: Estonia

IBA criteria met: A4i, A4iii, B1i, B2 (2000)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here

Area: 47,910 ha

Eesti Ornitiliigiaühing (EOÜ)

Site description (2000 baseline)
A shallow (<12 m) sea strait between Kihnu island and the west Estonian mainland, with a complex of small islets and shallow (<2 m) bays. There is a mosaic of meadows and reedbeds along the coast. Fishing and tourism are intensive in the area.

Key biodiversity
Kihnu strait is an important staging area for migrating waterbirds, especially wildfowl, and supports important numbers of breeding waders and gulls/terns (Laridae). The site holds 20,000 or more waterbirds on a regular basis. Significant proportion (³1%) of national population breeding at site: Larus canus (500 pairs), Sterna caspia (5 pairs).


Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Kihnu strait. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/kihnu-strait-iba-estonia on 19/03/2024.