April | Öland

Northern Wheatear, © Hans Olsson

Birds in April

April is an exciting and eventful month in the bird world. It begins often with winter-like conditions and often ends with the summer hot days. Everything seems to be happening during this period. This is also reflected among the birds. While the last of the wintering birds, as the Great Grey Shrike and the Snow Bunting, leaves southern Sweden, several long distance tropic migrants arrives. The Northern Wheatear is usually the first one after the White Wagtail, and then follows a long series of small birds such as the Tree Pipit, Western Yellow Wagtail, and towards the end of the month, Swallows, Flycatchers, Eurasian Wryneck and the first Old World Warblers, with Sweden’s most common bird, the Willow Warbler, in the lead.

April is a month when one would have to be on all of Öland bird locations simultaneously. But depending on the weather, you can select different strategies in the birding. With southerly winds and fair to partly cloudy weather, is birding of migratory birds at the coast to recommend. From dawn and a few hours ahead the migration is usually the best. Toward the day the migration slows down to sometimes reach a smaller peak again during late afternoon and evening. At midday, it pays instead to search in the coastal groves and juniper shrubs grounds for new coming small birds, or search for, for the season expected, rarities as Hoopoe, Ring Ouzel, European Stonechat and the Common Firecrest.

Most small bird species migrates during the night, and towards dawn they prefer to seek to the earliest protected environment they can find, which at Öland often becomes an isolated tree grove on the coast. This becomes even more evident during foggy and misty mornings, which then can show impressive “fallout” of small birds in the bushes. April is also the month when all of Öland’s wetlands fills with Dabbling Ducks, Grebes, Waders and Crakes, and to the costal meadows have now Pied Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits and Dunlins returned.

Hoopoe, © Lars Lundmark

Birds to scout for in April

Tundra Swan, Great Egret, Ruff, Whimbrel, Parasitic Jaeger, Mediterranean Gull, Common Tern, Short-eared Owl, Common Redstart, Eurasian Penduline Tit and Common Linnet.

Common Linnet, © Lars Lundmark