CRANE MIGRATION RADAR

The next Crane Migration is expected by the end of October or early November. At the moment, the Crane Migration Radar is still a research project, built with passion by a small but dedicated team of volunteers, which is why access is limited to 100 users at a time. We’re working to scale it so more of you can join, especially for the spring migration. If you’d like to help the Radar grow, please consider making a donation – every little bit helps!

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Track the cranes’ migration in real-time.

LAUNCH THE CRANE RADAR

Track the cranes’ journey and see where they might be spotted in the next few hours.

Every autumn, cranes migrate from cold Scandinavia to warmer regions in France and Spain, returning in spring. The best viewing periods are October until November and February until March.

Crane positions are updated every five minutes. Click the binocular icon for details and zoom in for more precise estimates.

No cranes on the radar? That means none have been spotted over the Netherlands (yet). Check back soon!

LAUNCH THE CRANE RADAR

How it works.

Thousands of birders in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany use Waarneming.nl to record crane sightings. We have developed a model that combines these observations with current weather data, over 20,000 historic sightings, and our knowledge of the species’ biology and ecology. This creates a real-time radar showing current crane sightings and their expected migration routes.

CREDITS

The Crane Migration Radar is part of Nature FIRST, a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) from HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-02 Call (grant Agreement ID 101060954) that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme.

The Crane Migration Radar is an initiative of:

Insights & News

Crane Radar Newsletter #2 - Dutch - Coming soon…

Crane Radar Newsletter #1 - Dutch - April 2025