New report on bird monitoring results in Switzerland
July 31, 2026 | Marina Kipson
Each year, the Swiss Ornithological Institute publishes its bird monitoring results in the Vogelmonitoring report. The findings are based on the incredible efforts of more than 2,000 volunteers who contribute to various monitoring schemes.
Some of the key insights include:
- Eurasian Blackcap has replaced Eurasian Chaffinch, for the first time, as the most common breeding bird species. The chaffinch population has shown only modest growth since 1999 and has recently even declined, whereas the Blackcap has increased steadily since the 2000s.
- Carrion Crow has increased its population from 50,000 breeding pairs in the 1990s to about 100,000 pairs today.
- The Woodchat Shrike went from an estimated 25 breeding pairs in the 1990s to zero, being absent as a breeding species today.
- Special monitoring of breeding birds in wetland areas showed that the Great Crested Grebe populations declined by 50% in the last 20 years. In contrast, the Common Little Bittern seems to have recovered from the 1990s onwards, following a previous decline, coinciding with a larger European recovery for this species.
- There is growing evidence that the Black Stork will soon be a new addition to the breeding bird list for Switzerland.