Birds of Denmark

452 bird species have been identified in Denmark

It is a small Scandinavian country (in area it easily fits inside the state of Illinois) with about 5.6 million people (a bit more than Cook County, Illinois). It includes 407 islands...around 70 are inhabited.

The Kingdom of Denmark is the worlds oldest monarchy...founded by the Viking kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth in the 10th C...love the old names. Queen Margrethe II is the present monarch...since 1972.

The climate is temperate overall with cool summers.

As Jette is from Denmark we have made numerous trips to the old kingdom but only in recent years have spent as much time searching for birds as with friends and family.

The Mute Swan is the national bird of Denmark...since 1984.

But what did he see in the clear stream below? His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck’s nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan’s egg.

(Hans Christian Anderson)