Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
A shallow (<20 m) sea bay on the northern coast of Saaremaa island, with small islets, reedbeds, coastal meadows and saltmarshes. The main economic activities are fishing, forestry and tourism.
Küdema bay is an important wintering area for two duck species and a notable breeding area for several waterbirds. Significant proportion (³1%) of national population breeding at site:
Larus marinus (min. 105 pairs).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Major threats are posed by intensive fishing, overgrowth of coastal meadows with reed
Phragmites due to undergrazing, and tourism. A planned core area of the West Estonian Archipelago Biosphere Reserve is contained by the IBA. Research involves monitoring of wintering and breeding waterbirds.
National None
International High4,822 ha of IBA covered by Biosphere Reserve (West Estonian Archipelago, 1,560,000 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Küdema bay (Estonia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/küdema-bay-iba-estonia on 22/11/2024.
