Record numbers of cranes are flying over Switzerland this spring
More cranes are currently flying over Switzerland than ever before in spring. Groups of over 500 birds have been spotted in the last few days.
This has never happened before on this scale, said Livio Rey, spokesman for the Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach, to the Keystone-SDA news agency. According to the ornitho.ch observation platform, groups of 150 birds have already been recorded today.
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Larger groups have so far only been observed in autumn. Generally, more cranes are spotted over Switzerland in autumn than in spring. According to Rey, this is partly because the population is larger after the breeding season.
On the other hand, the birds increasingly choose a migration route through Switzerland in autumn. Geography is responsible for this, explained Rey. The Swiss Central Plateau region acts like a funnel. Their route in autumn leads the birds into the wider part of this funnel. On their return flight in spring, however, they hit the narrower end and therefore tend to fly around Switzerland.
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Switzerland becomes a transit country
The fact that cranes fly over Switzerland in such large numbers is a recent phenomenon. Until a few years ago, the crane was only a rare guest in this country. Switzerland is not on the birds’ traditional main migration routes, which lead from Scandinavia and north-east Europe to Spain or from Finland via Italy to North Africa.
According to the ornithological institute, a decisive change occurred in 2011, when some of the cranes changed their route. Instead of flying from Hungary via Italy to North Africa, the birds chose a new route via the Camargue in southern France to Spain.
According to Rey, this change of route was probably triggered by strong easterly winds, which “blew” the birds westwards. As cranes do not inherit their migration routes genetically, but learn them from experienced birds, this new route has become established.
The increase in sightings is also due to the fact that the number of cranes is increasing overall in Europe as a result of conservation measures.
Adapted from French by AI/ac
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