STOCKHOLM, Sweden — They dance, heads held high; leap into the air; and excitedly toss sticks, all the while trumpeting ecstatically.
Every April, as many as 10,000 cranes touch down in the wetlands of Lake Hornborga in central Sweden to recharge on their way home to northern Sweden, where they spend the summer mating and enjoying the long Nordic days.
The dance is a captivating spectacle and a way of strengthening the ties among the birds, which mate for life.
The bowing, hopping and wing-flapping provide a spectacle for more than ornithologists. It is a pleasure for tourists and bird-watchers, drawing thousands of them annually.
The cranes begin their long journey from northwestern Africa and southwestern Spain in early March, making stops to rest at the German Baltic coast and at Lake Hornborga before continuing north. The number of cranes at Lake Hornborga peaks between April 10 and 25, when thousands of people are expected to view the dancing with telescopes, binoculars and cameras from short distances.
“During a regular crane season, some 150,000 bird lovers come here. If Easter week falls in the right period and the weather is fine, we can expect up to 200,000 tourists,” says Gillis Hellberg, head of information at Skara municipality, home to the lake. “There are more and more cafes and restaurants popping up, and artists, craftsmen and small shops keep opening regularly,” he says.
According to Mr. Hellberg, each tourist spends an average of $39 a day, which brings about $5.9 million every year.
Jan Mogol, an information officer at the lake, recalls the first time he saw the long-legged birds landing, transitioning from graceful flight, the enormous wings spread out like billowy parachutes, their legs unfolding like the landing gear on a jumbo jet.
“We call them the messengers of spring,” he says.
Mr. Mogol explains that the birds stop at Lake Hornborga for several reasons.
“It’s a one-day flight from the German Baltic coast, there is enough food available by the lake, and there are ample sleeping areas in shallow water,” he says. “There are also long distances for most of the pairs to their breeding areas in the north, and they wait here until winter has let go of the areas where they are heading.”
Famed as a bird lake and ravaged by several past attempts to lower the level of the water, Lake Hornborga was revived by an extensive restoration program, making it a paradise for resting and breeding wetland birds.
The cranes used to gorge themselves on the remnants of potatoes left from winter, but authorities now lay out stores of grain, more than 100 tons each April.
As April ends, the cranes fly away, but come August, when the flock is renewed with a new generation, they return to the lake as they head back south.
For Swedish tourist information, call 212/885-9700 or visit www.visit-sweden.com.
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