CAnMove

The aim of the project is to monitor the population size changes of Swedish breeding birds. Since 1975, birds are counted in summer and winter at hundreds of different sites using standardized methods. In this way about 150 of the 250 breeding species are surveyed. The project was started by Sören Svensson and led by him until Åke Lindström took over in 2002. Species-specific trends are updated yearly and published in a report and on the homepage. Apart from the species trends being important in themselves, they are also combined into indicators that are used in various ways to indicate development of biodiversity.

At the national level, bird indicators are used to assess the progress towards achieving them the environmental objectives set by the Swedish parliament. Presently there are indicators for “Sustainable forests”, “A varied agricultural landscape” and “A magnificent mountain landscape”. Internationally, our data are included in the Wild Bird Indicator of the European Union. There are several ongoing collaborations with scientists in Sweden based on our bird monitoring data.