A Ramsar-class waterbird reserve of ponds and lakes at the eastern edge of the Märkische Schweiz nature park.
Altfriedländer Teich- und Seengebiet
The Altfriedländer Teich- und Seengebiet is a European bird protection area in eastern Brandenburg, set within the northeastern corner of the Naturpark Märkische Schweiz near the village of Altfriedland in the Landkreis Märkisch-Oderland. It is a component of the larger SPA Märkische Schweiz and forms a coherent, protected network of ponds, lakes, reedbeds, and lowland peat remnants. The site is anchored by the Kietzer See, one of the largest artificial ponds in Brandenburg, and includes the smaller Klostersee and a cluster of nineteen shallow ponds created mid twentieth century.
The reserve is recognized as the most important waterbird breeding, staging, and stopover area in the entire Märkische Schweiz nature park. It supports breeding populations of rare and threatened species such as white-tailed eagle, osprey, black stork, common kingfisher, and one of Brandenburg's most significant colonies of the endangered common tern. In autumn, drained fishponds expose extensive mudflats that attract large flocks of lapwings and, on a regional scale, tens of thousands of bean geese and white-fronted geese on migration.
Today the area operates both as a Natura 2000 site under the EU Birds Directive and as a working landscape managed hand in hand with local fisheries. Habitat works, including artificial breeding islands built from retired pontoons and winter reed cutting on floating mats, sustain the site's value for waterbirds while traditional pond aquaculture continues.
