Bird ringing station manual

Bird ringing, essential to bird conservation, is an informational process as individual birds are studied. The most critical use of bird ringing results from recovering previously banded birds. Bird watchers and ornithologists may report sightings of banded birds, and roughly five percent of banded birds are eventually caught during subsequent banding sessions and can be identified by their bands.

What appears crucial in this process is the collaboration between bird ringing stations and the standardization of the station routine. The latter has now been thoroughly documented and described by Polish bird watchers Przemysław Busse and Wlodzimierz Meissner in the "Bird Ringing Station Manual," published in open access by De Gruyter Open.

According to the authors, one of the most important tasks in setting up the station routine is to organise the work in such a manner that optimal results are obtained with a minimal effort. The work should be standardized in order to monitor, evaluate and compare the data. Optimum results comprise not only of a maximum number of birds caught, but also of the collection of useful, scientific data, depending on the sources at hand. Depending on local conditions, catching devices, and the number of station staff, the optimisation of a station routine may require varied levels of attention. The manual sets out to explain how to make the work easier, more effective and satisfying and how to make it a positive experience for both birds and ringers.

Catching and ringing is one of the methods of bird observation. Other approaches turn out to be more habitat- or bird-group specific. Busse and Meissner focus on catching passerines with mist-nets on land and in wetland habitats. They explain the workings of Heligoland traps, and finally, how to catch waders and even raptors. Their book is based on decades of experience in the Baltic and along the South Eastern European Flyway.

Bird ringing raises controversy and the questions of whether the birds are harmed, whether it is right to disturb a free-roving animal, and further, what scientific advantages and benefits to birds and other creatures, including humans, are obtained. Ornithologists and other scientists point out that bird-ringing statistics provide more ways to investigate, with increasing accuracy, such things as migration routes and navigational systems of many different bird species. The research is essential. "Birds know no borders: says Barbara Helm, President of European Ornithologists' Union. "Having worked with bird ringers in different countries, I fully agree that it is we, humans, who hinder insights gained from ringing and monitoring because our habits differ between countries and cultures. I support the mission of the book to help solve this problem by giving a full account of organizing ringing stations. Thereby, it also gives insights into a broad area of migration research that many ornithologists might not even be aware of."

More information:
The book is available online: www.degruyter.com/view/product/209750?format=EBOK

Provided by De Gruyter