Like a midsummer party and dancing to “små grodorna (small frogs)” isn’t enough for us Swedes. Apparently, we have a crane day too. We heard about the crane day and decided to check it out. And let’s face it – we saw a lot of cranes.
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Cranes in Vattenriket
The cranes come to Pulken, a part of Vattenriket when March is turning to April every year. And they stay here for a couple of weeks. They are fed daily and there are thousands of them pretty close to you. The feeding is done to prevent the cranes from savaging the farmer’s crops nearby. And people flock like the cranes to see them. The sound of these huge birds is almost like my sister on the phone. I’m not kidding – that was our first thought. My sister is loud and speaks super fast and interrupts. And the cranes are loud and scream and try to make themselves heard over all other cranes. See the resemblance?
Vattenriket is putting out binoculars so that you can get a closer look and there is a watchtower where you can see the birds from above.
Facts about cranes at Pulken
Did you know that cranes are the tallest birds in Europe? They can become 1,3 meters tall and weigh between 4 and 7 kilos. Cranes couple for life and they live between 25 – 30 years. How cute is that? Pulken, where they stop to eat and to show themselves is like a bed and breakfast for them. Here they are safe from the foxes and since they get food here they stay here for a couple of weeks. The fact is that there are a lot of people coming here to see the cranes. Vattenriket is a great place and they really take care of the environment.
Our experience of Pulken
Ok so we are not that devoted to bird watching but we did enjoy seeing the cranes. Probably because there were so many of them there and that’s not a thing that you see every day. I also love the fact that these are wild cranes and that we are only there to watch them from a distance. We are not looking at caged animals for our own amusement but free birds. Birds acting as they should! For people that are interested in bird watching, I can truly recommend that you come to Pulken in late March, beginning of April to see them.
Enjoy watching cranes
Make sure that you have time to spend here. We saw a lot of people that brought some coffee and sandwiches. They put out blankets in the grass and just enjoyed themselves while watching the cranes. Sure this is a cool thing to have seen and there are a lot of them. Last year’s count (2020) was 7100 cranes in one day at the most. Wonder if 2021 will break that record. Record or not there are cranes everywhere and they are LOUD!
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