Conferences – September 2009
EURING is holding two important conferences in September 2009. Both meetings will be held in central Italy and are being hosted by the Italian Ringing Scheme. The EURING 2009 analytical conference, scheduled for September 14-20 in Pescara, Italy, will focus on the development, understanding and integration of new methodologies in the analysis of ringing data. The latest in this series of prestigious mark-recapture meetings will bring together leading statisticians and biologists working on cutting edge analytical methods. This meeting will be followed by the EURING General Assembly, which will take place from September 21-23 in Anversa delgi Abruzzi. Conference information and registration is available here.

Bird Ringing for Science and Conservation
We live in a rapidly changing world where human activities are causing rapid declines in many species of animals and plants, linked to widespread environmental change. This EURING brochure, compiled by Matthias Kestenholz, explains how bird ringing is contributing to conservation science and how EURING's activities can be developed further to address some of the conservation challenges of the 21st century. Download your copy here in English as a .pdf file* (1.86Mb) and here in Italian as a .pdf file* (1.61Mb)

Constant Effort Sites Ringing (CES) aims to monitor the trends in abundance, productivity and survival of songbirds throughout Europe. By studying productivity and survival we can investigate the demographic mechanisms responsible for population changes. CES schemes are now undertaken by volunteer ringers in some 15 countries throughout Europe, with coverage increasing each year. EURING is working to co-ordinate this important monitoring effort and has developed guidelines to promote standardisation between countries. For details of CES coverage throughout Europe and a copy of the guidelines click here.

Migration Mapping Tool published
EURING is actively involved in research on the movements of wild birds in relation to the potential transmission of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI). We have collaborated with Wetlands International to produce a web-based Migration Mapping Tool which can be viewed here.
We have also contributed to a report entitled “Urgent preliminary assessment of ornithological data relevant to the spread of Avian Influenza in Europe”. Both projects were funded by the European Commission. Further research is currently in progress at several European ringing centres. EURING has produced a position statement on Avian Influenza outlining the reasons why continued bird ringing is essential and the hygiene precautions that are need to ensure that it can be done safely. For further information click here.

The EURING databank (EDB) holds ring recovery data gathered by bird ringing schemes throughout Europe and is hosted by the British Trust for Ornithology in Thetford. The EDB index, published on this website in June 2004, provides a summary of the information that is held in the EDB, including maps of the distributions of ringing and recovery locations. EURING wishes to promote more analysis of these data and welcomes applications to analyse particular data sets. To view the index and to find out how to apply to analyse data from the EDB click here.

The use of a web address on rings issued throughout Europe is co-ordinated by EURING. In addition to the standard postal address, increasing numbers of rings used on larger species carry the address www.ring.ac This will take users to a multi-language website where they can enter details of the bird they have found. Finders will be informed about the ringing details of birds that they report in the usual way.
Any recovery can be reported via the multi-language website which can be found here.