Blackcap replaces chaffinch as most common Swiss bird

Blackcap replaces chaffinch as the most common bird Keystone-SDA

The blackcap is now the most common bird in Switzerland. According to the Swiss Ornithological Institute's 2025 bird monitoring programme, it has displaced the chaffinch from first place.

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There are now almost one million breeding pairs of blackcaps in Switzerland, according to the Swiss Ornithological Institute. The species is benefiting from the expansion of forests at higher altitudes.

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Another reason for the increase is that more and more birds are spending the winter in Europe instead of migrating south.

At the same time, according to the monitoring, chaffinch populations have declined. “Regardless of the change at the top, the decline of the chaffinch is puzzling because its causes are largely unknown,” the report states.

Other well-known birds such as the sparrow and the blackbird still made it into the top ten most common species. The street pigeon, on the other hand, is not even in the top 50.

For Bird Monitoring 2025, around 300 employees of the Swiss Ornithological Institute spent over 3,000 hours collecting data on breeding birds.

Adapted from French by AI/mga

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