Wildlife Birds increasingly visit gardens after the onset of winter
Birds have increasingly visited gardens after the recent onset of winter. Species such as the juniper thrush and chaffinch, which prefer to live in farmland or woodland, were spotted more frequently at the weekend during the national counting campaign than in recent years.
13.01.2026, 07:51
SDA
Despite changeable weather, around 5,000 people throughout Switzerland helped to count birds in residential areas at the weekend. They discovered a total of around 136,000 birds, as Birdlife Switzerland announced on Tuesday.
In addition to the wood thrush and chaffinch, jackdaws and bramblings were also spotted in greater numbers than last year. The great spotted woodpecker, which was seen in around 20 percent of gardens last year, was found in almost one in three gardens this year, according to the press release.
Especially when snow and ice make foraging difficult, the small-scale structures of urban areas are attractive for birds to find food. According to Birdlife, this requires gardens and parks with native vegetation and many near-natural structures that serve as wintering and feeding sites for the animals.
The most frequently counted bird last weekend was the house sparrow known as the sparrow, followed by the great tit and the crow. This is in line with the expectations of the bird experts. For years, there has been a concentration on a few undemanding species and "habitat specialists" are becoming increasingly rare.
