07/05/2026
Yesterday I went on a road trip that was equal parts fantastic and completely crazy with my friend Thomas Hultquist and his daughter Alice. We headed north from Brittatorp in the northern part of Växjö Municipality at 10:45 pm on Tuesday evening, with our sights set on Gålö Nature Reserve and the dalmatian pelican that had been seen around Blista Bay since Walpurgis Night.
The first-ever record of a dalmatian pelican in Sweden was in the summer of 2025, but I never managed to go see it then. The same individual turned up again this year – first briefly in Uppland, then just as briefly in Östersund, before hanging around for a few days south of Stockholm.
We seized the opportunity and drove north through the night. Once we arrived at Stegsholm Farm before sunrise, we walked out to the headland where we understood we would have the best chance of getting good views of the pelican – provided it was still there.
When we reached the Skäret point at Blista Bay, we could confirm that the pelican was indeed still present, sleeping on a rock barely 150 metres from the shore 😍 The joy was complete. After a while, just as the first rays of sunlight hit the beast, it woke up and stood upright – an absolutely magnificent experience 🤩 We spent almost four hours with the dalmatian pelican and eventually got to see it alslo in flight – an immensely impressive creature, to say the least, with a wingspan of more than 320 cm! 😳 Later the same day, the pelican was spotted in Gävle, some 160 km, as the bird flies, from where we saw it!
Buzzing with adrenaline and floating on clouds, we decided to also “swing by” Kungsträdgården in Stockholm to try to see the ring-billed gull that has returned to the site for a second year. We found a parking garage within comfortable walking distance of the target area, and only a few minutes later the ring-billed gull made its entrance and completely took over Kungsträdgården – incredibly dominant and cheeky towards the other gulls trying to grab some of the chips and bread generously handed out by random Stockholm teenagers 🥹
Back home in Växjö in time for dinner with my wife and daughter. A day well spent 😎
