The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Record number of cranes have crossed Switzerland

Record number of cranes have crossed Switzerland
Record number of cranes have crossed Switzerland Keystone-SDA

Around 800 cranes have travelled over Switzerland. According to the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Sempach, never before have so many cranes been counted at once in this country.

The start of this year’s bird migration season is therefore looking promising. Several very large flocks of cranes have already been observed, the Swiss Ornithological Institute (SOI) wrote on Tuesday. Record numbers of migrating cranes have also been reported in neighbouring Bavaria. The migration season for cranes has only just begun.

More

With their loud, trumpeting calls, they are very conspicuous when they fly south in the typical ‘V’ formation. Cranes are known for their traditional migration routes, according to the SOI. The westernmost migration route leads from Scandinavia and north-eastern Europe in a very narrow corridor to the south-west and ends in Spain. Another route leads from Finland via Hungary and Italy to North Africa. This means that Switzerland is not actually directly on a “crane flyway”. This makes the current spectacle over the Swiss sky all the more remarkable.

Adapted from German by DeepL/ac

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

F/A-18 take-offs and landings at Bern-Belp Airport

More

F/A-18s take off and land at Bern Airport

This content was published on The Swiss Armed Forces are training their fighter jets in Bern to fly from a civilian base. The exercise at Bern Airport will last until Wednesday.

Read more: F/A-18s take off and land at Bern Airport
cern

More

Plans materialise for new particle accelerator in Geneva

This content was published on Preparations for a huge new particle accelerator in Geneva have reached a milestone. After several years of work, a feasibility study for the project has now been finalised.

Read more: Plans materialise for new particle accelerator in Geneva
More Russian assets frozen in Switzerland

More

More Russian assets frozen in Switzerland

This content was published on The value of frozen Russian assets in Switzerland currently stands at CHF7.4 billion ($8.4 billion), the Swiss government announced on Tuesday.

Read more: More Russian assets frozen in Switzerland
Increase in business start-ups in the 1st quarter

More

Increase in Swiss business start-ups in Q1

This content was published on The number of business start-ups in Switzerland accelerated in the first three months of the year, with entrepreneurs being particularly dynamic in Central Switzerland, Basel and Geneva.

Read more: Increase in Swiss business start-ups in Q1

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR