UBPRC – Ukrainian Birds of Prey Research Centre

Observations of marked birds

There came a period of bird spring migration, and again we’re searching the sky for silhouettes of our favourites. Quite often we don’t guess that our observations might give an unexpected result. During last decades an individual marking of birds of prey by using colour rings, wing tags or ‘windows’ on wings is rather common-spread. These are the elements which should be paid attention when observing birds, also during migrations. A camera may be very useful as modern technical devices give a possibility to take a picture of a bird, and then have a better look at necessary features. Therefore we can advise not only gaze at flying birds, but take a picture.

First three photo are taken from the paper: Dravecký M, Sellis U, Bergmanis U, Dombrovski V, Lontkowski J, Maciorowski G, Maderič B, Meyburg B-U, Mizera T, Stój M, Treinys R & Wójciak J 2008: Colour ringing of the Spotted Eagles (Aquila pomarina, Aquila clanga and their hybrids) in Europe – a review. Slovak Rapt J 2: 37–52.

The colour marking of birds in Ukraine was not provided yet, but basing on migratory routes, you can meet the raptors marked in other countries, as follows:

Osprey. Colour rings were used in Finland and Norway.
Honey Buzzard. 2008, eighty birds were marked with colour rings in Finland.
Black Kite. Colour rings were used in Hungary; wing tags (98 tags in 2003) in Germany.
Goshawk. Colour rings were used in Hungary.
Marsh Harrier. Colour rings were used in Germany, Hungary, Finland (500 birds were marked in 1995-2008) and the Netherlands.
Hen Harrier. Colour rings were used in the Netherlands.
Montagu’s Harrier. Colour rings were used in the Netherlands, Germany and Hungary; wing tags – in Poland.
Buzzard. Colour rings were used in Hungary and the Netherlands; wing tags – in Germany.
Short-toed Eagle. Birds were marked with colour rings on migration in Israel.
Spotted Eagle and Lesser Spotted Eagle. High-volume colour marking with rings was started quite recently. Not only the birds marked in Belarus can be met in Ukraine as data of telemetry show that even Lesser Spotted Eagles from Germany fly to our area. The Lesser Spotted Eagle is regularly marked with wing tags in Latvia. ‘Windows’ on wings are used in Slovakia.
Imperial Eagle. Colour rings were used in Hungary and Slovakia.
White-tailed Eagle. Chicks on a mass scale are marked with colour rings in Scandinavian and Baltic countries, Poland, Belarus and Russia. According to ringing data a few amount of these birds winter in Ukraine. Польщі, а також в Білорусі, Росії. Невелика частина з цих птахів, як показують дані кільцювання, зимує в Україні.
Peregrine. Colour rings were used in Hungary, Finland and many other countries.
Saker. Colour rings were used in Hungary.
Red-footed Falcon. Colour rings were used in Hungary
Kestrel. Colour rings were used in the Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Germany, Romania and Hungary.

In conclusion we would like to express solidarity with the manifest about not using marking of birds without extreme necessity, because of bioethical considerations. The text of the manifest can be found at our partner’s web-site dedicated to the Short-toed Eagle (http://short-toed-eagle.net/manifesto-against-plastic/).

Maxim Gavrilyuk