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Highlights
from previous
focus on nature tours

in  SWEDEN

Many birders gather at Falsterbo 
in southernmost Sweden,
to witness many birds migrating 

Links:

Birds & Other Wildlife during FONT Sweden Tours (with some photos)

A Cumulative List of Birds during FONT European Tours (with some photos)

SWEDEN - September 2007

This paragraph & the narrative reached from the link below were written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour:

This tour focused on a most intriguing aspect of the natural world: "bird migration". And it took place in some of the most pleasant settings anywhere! Two places in particular that we visit are the southernmost point in Sweden, at Falsterbo and Skanor, and the long, narrow island in the Baltic, off southeastern Sweden, known as Oland. In 2007, at both of these places, again for us, as in the past, during the last week of September, our experiences were wonderful. 
At Falsterbo and Skanor, the birds were funneling through. Those birds were of various sorts, including: landbirds, waterbirds and raptors overhead in the sky. There were many! 
Even without birds, Oland would be a very nice place. Every little village there is like a postcard. 
But with the birds, it's all the better - and it can't be much better than thousands of cranes, and geese and ducks - in addition to an assortment of others. Also in the thousands, one day, were Common Eiders, in flocks on their migration south. As many as 35,000 eiders were tallied one morning before 10am, and they continued beyond that. 

Distracting from that, however, were White-tailed Eagles (both adult and immature), and small trees near the coast that were dripping with Goldcrests and European Robins. At the bird-banding (or ringing) station at the south end of Oland, one day during our visit, the bird "number 1 million since 1946" was banded (or, as the Europeans say, ringed). It was a European Robin.

A European Robin photographed during the FONT Sep 2007 Sweden tour
(photo by James Scheib)

Two FONT Sweden '07 tour participants,
both named Sharon,
on Oland Island
(photo by James Scheib) 

During this tour we experienced the fall migration of birds - European birds, at two Swedish locations that are outstanding for the phenomenon autumnal avian migration: Falsterbo, at the southernmost tip of Sweden, and the long island of Öland in the Baltic.  Both of these are pleasant places to be, and some of our highlights included: Steller's Eider (from far-northern Europe), Red-breasted Flycatcher and Yellow-browed Warbler (both from Russia), and a Pectoral Sandpiper (from North America). In flocks, there were Eurasian Cranes and Barnacle Geese. There were over a dozen raptor species. Particularly nice among them was the Eurasian Hobby. A group of them were circling about in the blue sky above us, catching insects. In all, 110 species of birds were tallied during the tour.

Two of the raptors seen in their migration at Falsterbo
during our Fall '06 Sweden Tour
were the Red Kite (above)
and the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (below).  

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