Belgium counts 900,000 migratory birds in one day

An estimated 917,974 migratory birds were counted in Belgium last Sunday as part of Flemish environmental organisation Natuurpunt’s annual initiative.

Weather conditions were ideal for their southward migration, Natuurpoint noted, which takes place every year before winter.

“The birds took full advantage of this. The sky above Belgium was filled with impressive flocks of migratory birds heading south,” said the association, which described the migration as “one of the most beautiful natural phenomena to observe”.

The most commonly observed migratory species was the wood pigeon with 411,204 birds counted, mainly in the south-east of the country where the Scandinavian migratory route converges. This is typical for October.

Next came the chaffinch (122,843 counted) and the starling (122,201).

The skylark (64,343), the redwing (48,730) and the fieldfare (7,145) were also spotted.

Grey cranes, too, were observed in large numbers on Sunday (7,467), especially in Wallonia.

Photo: Bengt Nyman/Wikimedia. Licensed under Creative Commons