Lappland May 2020

In late May this year (2020), I went on a ten-day road trip to Lappland, the northernmost region of Sweden. I spent most of the time in three different places – Båtsjaur, Ammarnäs and Stekenjokk – but also made numerous stops along the roads where the habitat looked interesting and when I encountered cool birds. This year, spring was unusually late in northernmost Sweden with plenty of snow and ice still in late May, which contributed to unusually large gatherings of birds in certain places. At Stekenjokk, for instance, the snow cover was still 7 metres (!) thick in certain places. I recorded a total of 170 bird species on the trip and amazing numbers of some species. For instance, 97 capercaillies, 24 willow grouse, 11 ptarmigans, 46 lesser white-fronted geese, 70 red-throated divers, 500+ ruffs and 1,000+ golden plovers, 123 lapland buntings, etc.