Wildlife spectacles in Sweden
5 spectacles through the year, ordered by when they peak. Open Sweden in the interactive calendar for the map and listening times.
Spring crane staging: Hornborgasjön and PulkenThousands of cranes bugling in chorus — trumpeting that carries for kilometres, rising to a roar when a flock lifts; unison calls of pairs, wing noise of landing flocks, whooper swans and lapwings in the background.
Tåkern: booming bitterns in Europe's biggest reedbedsThe deep, bottle-blown 'whump' of bitterns booming across the reeds, several males answering; reed, sedge and Savi's warblers, water rail squeals, cranes and geese; at Väversunda in late May the strange clicking display of great snipe towards nightfall.
Stora Karlsö: Baltic auk cliffs and the guillemot jumpThe growling, gurgling roar of a packed guillemot colony on limestone ledges, razorbill rasps, kittiwake-free Baltic quiet behind it; in late June the thin whistles of chicks calling to parents as they leap into the sea.
Falsterbo: Scandinavia's autumn migration funnelA continuous stream of flight calls at dawn — chaffinch, brambling, meadow pipit, yellow wagtail, siskin — thousands of birds an hour on a big day; cranes bugling high overhead in late Sept–Oct; the sea on both sides of the point.
Ottenby: autumn at the southern tip of ÖlandOn fall mornings the Lund rustles with hundreds of goldcrests and robins ticking; eider and long-tailed duck flocks calling as they round the point; wind and surf; eagles' yelps over the meadows in October.