Crane migration radar
Every autumn, cranes migrate from cold Scandinavia to warmer regions in France and Spain, returning in spring. The best times to see them are October-November and February-March.
With the Crane Radar, you can track their migration in real time and find out where they might be spotted in the next few hours. Cranes’ positions are updated every 5 minutes. Click on the binocular icon for details on the original observation and zoom in for more accurate estimates.
Are you along their path? Grab your binoculars and watch for cranes flying overhead!
No cranes on the radar? Then no cranes have been spotted above the Netherlands (yet). Come back later!
How it works
Thousands of birders in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany use Waarneming.nl to record crane sightings. We have developed a model that combines these observations with current weather data, over 20,000 historic sightings, and our knowledge of the species’ biology and ecology. This creates a real-time radar showing current crane sightings and their expected migration routes.
Credits
The Crane Radar is an initiative of:
Ass. Prof. Koen de Koning of the Earth Systems and Global Change Group, Wageningen University and Research
It is part of Nature FIRST, a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) from HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-02 Call (grant Agreement ID 101060954) that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme.
