Łukasz Ławicki, Przemysław Wylegała, Maria Wieloch, Arkadiusz Sikora, Grzegorz Grygoruk, Andrzej Dombrowski, Sławomir Chmielewski, Wiesław Lenkiewicz, Radosław Włodarczyk
Ornis Polonica 2011, 52: 196–210
https://doi.org/10.12657/ornis.2011.3.3
Abstract: A national census of Bewick’s Swans took place in Poland in spring 2010 with three counts conducted (13–21 March, 27 March–4 April and 10–18 April), which in total covered 338 sites. During subsequent counts 1,122, 1,214 and 253 swans were recorded on 74, 44 and 18 sites, respectively. Most of Bewick’s Swans were observed in lowlands (71–92% of all birds), with the Wielkopolska region holding biggest numbers. In northern Poland, 8–28% of Bewick’s Swans were recorded, while in highlands the species was rare. Flocks up to 10 individuals were the most frequent; the biggest flocks (119–230 inds.) were found at fish ponds in Wielkopolska region. During the first count, swans frequented predominantly river valleys and fields, during the second count – fish ponds and river valleys while during the last count they were mostly found at fish ponds. Young swans accounted for 8–10% of all birds. Among family flocks (N=41), these with 1 or 2 young predominated (82%). In spring 2010, at least 5% of Bewick’s Swan population wintering in NW Europe was recorded in Poland. This is about twice less than in some other years, when during migration peak numbers of Bewick’s Swans have been estimated for at least 2,000 birds.
