Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

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

Swiss Armed Forces have around 147,000 personnel

More

Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit

This content was published on The Swiss armed forces had an effective headcount of around 147,000 as of March 1, 2024. This exceeds the upper limit of 140,000 specified in the army organisation by 5%.

Read more: Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit
Two men charged by the MPC with money laundering

More

Two Swiss men charged with money laundering

This content was published on One million francs, 34 million euros and around 830 kilos of gold: this is the fortune that two Swiss nationals are accused of having moved across borders for at least four years.

Read more: Two Swiss men charged with money laundering
Richemont reports lower first-half results

More

Richemont reports lower first-half results

This content was published on Geneva-based luxury goods group Richemont reported a downturn in performance for the first half of its 2024/25 financial year. Both sales and profit declined.

Read more: Richemont reports lower first-half results

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