The cranes from Scandinavia and the Baltic States take a break in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania every year to recharge their batteries and to join their native counterparts.
However, the migratory habits of birds have changed in recent years.
Groß Mohrdorf (dpa / mv) - On their annual migration to the south, the cranes from Scandinavia make a stopover on the coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at the beginning of October.
While the animals that rest on the coast come mainly from the Scandinavian countries, the birds from the Baltic States and Poland tend to rest in the Müritz region, said Günter Nowald, head of the NABU crane center in Groß Mohrdorf on Thursday.
However, there is also a native population.
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A growing number of birds - around 30,000 - are also trying to stay in Germany over the winter, most of these "muffled birds" stayed in Lower Saxony, according to Nowald. The number of overwinterers in the northeast varies between 5,000 and 10,000 animals. The majority of cranes, however, migrate to the south, of which about 100,000 to France and 200,000 to the Iberian Peninsula.
According to the researcher, whether the birds stay in Germany or move on depends both on the individual decision of the cranes and on the food available.
If, among other things, a lot of maize is left in the fields, the animals will also have more food available.
As Nowald explains, in the winter of 1999 to 2000 all the birds - which the researchers had ringed - migrated the almost 2000 kilometers as the crow flies to Spain.
Today, however, the average migration distance is 700 kilometers.
dpa
