At the beginning of March it is still very wintry in Estonia, the forests are covered with snow and ice fields float on the sea. Nevertheless, the signs of approaching spring are unmistakable: the drumming of rare three-toed woodpeckers can be heard and the pygmy owl excitedly defends its territory. Thousands of mourning, velvet and mountain ducks can be found on the coasts. Not to be missed are the mating merganser ducks that make the sea “sing”. Among them are also several hundred of the rare piebald ducks, which breed in Siberia and on the High Arctic islands and are actually more likely to be found on the northern Norwegian coast in winter. The Estonian Baltic Sea islands are the southernmost wintering site of Steller’s ducks in Europe and particularly good for observing this really very attractive duck species at close quarters.
