Vorpommern celebrates the return of tens of thousands of cranes
From 20 to 27 September 2026, Germany's Bodden coast spends a week celebrating the crane, as the birds gather here in huge numbers before their flight to southern Spain and southern France.
Every morning, a sound you rarely hear anywhere else fills the Vorpommern Bodden landscape: the ringing trumpeting of thousands of cranes lifting off from the shallow water. The area between the Barther Bodden and the Rügen-Bock region, on Germany's Baltic coast, is regarded as one of the largest crane resting grounds in central Europe. From Sunday 20 to Sunday 27 September 2026, Kranichschutz Deutschland is marking the occasion with the 28th Woche des Kranichs, a series of talks, excursions and shows at the international NABU visitor centre Kranichwelten in Günz.
As early as August, the cranes that breed in the region itself gather on the Boddenwiesen, Kranichschutz Deutschland reports on the Kranichwelten website. Once the Scandinavian and eastern European birds join them in September, it is time to welcome them as "the dancers of the north", as the organisation calls them. The opening took place on Sunday 20 September at Kranichwelten, with talks and activities. Later in the week, the programme includes bird-watching from the Zingst West platform, a reading by the authors of Kasimir der Küstenkranich, an evening on cranes in myths, legends and poetry, and, on Saturday 26 September, a guided excursion to Bisdorf that counts towards the 33rd European BirdWatch Day.
One of Europe's largest resting grounds
Why here, of all places? The Nationalparkamt Vorpommern, which manages the area, describes the stretch from the Barther Bodden to the Rügen-Bock region as one of the largest crane resting grounds in central Europe. The birds fly here from Scandinavia, on their way to their wintering grounds in southern Spain and southern France. During the day they feed in the fields between Stralsund and Ribnitz-Damgarten; in the evening and morning they gather in the shallow waters of the Bodden, where they sleep standing up.
Exactly how many birds there are varies by source and by week, but the order of magnitude is clear. The national park authority speaks of up to 90,000 cranes between September and October. The tourist board of the Baltic resort of Zingst puts the figure at up to 70,000 cranes resting in the Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft national park until mid-October, while the shipping company Poschke, which runs regular boat trips to the resting grounds, reports up to 80,000 birds during the peak season from early to mid-October. Three different sources, three slightly different counts, but they all point to tens of thousands of birds gathering here at the same time.
Rest as a condition for the journey
That rest cannot be taken for granted. The national park authority warns that every disturbance costs the cranes energy they need for the long flight south: if there is too much disruption, the birds circle for long stretches or even fly off altogether in search of a quieter roosting spot. To prevent this, the entire Sundische Wiese area remains restricted from 7 September to 1 November 2026: after 3pm only a limited number of visitors with a Nationalpark-Card may enter, and from sunset until 8am it is closed to everyone, a restriction in force this autumn under a single administrative order (Einzelanordnung). If you want to see the birds, you are best off doing so during the day, from the Kranorama at the Günzer See or from the many viewing platforms between Zingst and Tankow.
Kraanvogels vliegen in de schemering over de Grabow Bodden in Vorpommern, met het spoor van een vliegtuig aan de hemel. Archieffoto uit 2015. · Lusi Lindwurm, CC BY-SA 4.0