Immigration of new bird species is greater than the extinction of the old ones, says Anders Wirdheim, Birdlife Sweden.
In a new edition of the book "Birds in Sweden - number and occurrence" the situation is summarized and a lot has happened since the first one, which described the situation 15 years ago.
The number of breeding bird pairs in Sweden is more or less the same, just over 70 million. At the same time, the number of species has increased from just over 250 to 260.
Those who are being pushed back are species that are specialized in coping with the environment that belonged to the old agricultural and forestry landscape. Those who are mainly benefiting are the generalists, notes Anders Wirdheim, who is one of the book's two main editors.
Those who find themselves comfortable almost everywhere, they are doing well.
Storspoven affected
A species that has been severely affected by changes in agriculture is the storspoven. To get high-quality feed, the hay is now harvested as early as mid-May in southern Sweden.
There, the storspovs have laid their nests and during the harvest, it goes to the young.
At the same time, large, grazing bird species such as geese, swans, and cranes are benefiting.
The other major factor of change is the climate.
"Surprisingly fast"
What's new and perhaps most surprising is how quickly climate change is now affecting bird life, says Anders Wirdheim.
The biätaren, which he describes as "incredibly beautiful" is expanding rapidly northwards in Europe and has bred in Skåne for four summers in a row, at the same time as it has almost disappeared from places in the Mediterranean, where it is now often 40 degrees hot in the summer.
Birds are good indicators of our environment. Birds can fly, if the galoshes don't fit, they leave, says Anders Wirdheim.
Modern agriculture benefits large grazing birds such as greylag geese, swans, and cranes. Both the areas of autumn-sown grain and autumn rape have increased and the fields are less often covered with snow during the winter, so the birds can access them.
Bird species associated with the traditionally cultivated landscape are disadvantaged, for example, storspoven, tofsvipa, kornknarr, and gulsparv.
The storspoven has decreased by 20 percent in Sweden in 15 years - in Götaland and Svealand, the decline is around 40 percent.
Species tied to old-growth forest are also disadvantaged, such as talltita, lavskrika, and tretåig hackspett.
More adaptable species are benefiting, such as bofink, nattskärra, and lövsångare.
Source: Birdlife Sweden
