Many birds are ringed as chicks in nests but fully-grown birds have to be caught using a variety of nets and traps. Whatever the catching method, ringers are carefully trained to ensure the safety of the birds they ring. Small birds are often caught in fine mist-nets. Bigger birds, such as ducks, are often caught in “walk-in” or baited cage traps. After removal from a net or a trap, birds are usually placed in soft cotton bags or in special holding boxes where they remain quiet and dry until they can be identified, ringed, examined and released.

Special rings and various other marks can be used to identify birds at a distance without needing to cat ch them again. Many birds wear colour rings with numbers that can be easily read through a telescope. Waterbirds can be marked with colour neck bands, and larger birds marked with wing tags, each individually identified by numbers or letters.

Waterbirds like ducks are often caught in baited cage traps.

Satellite tracking

One method that has added a new dimension to avian research in recent years is satellite tracking. Tiny transmitters, usually carried in harnesses strapped to the birds’ bodies, are linked to satellites. Each harness is custom-designed for each species and manually adjusted for each bird for maximum comfort of fit. The system enables researchers and conservationists to track individual birds continuously.

The results achieved by satellite tracking are ground-breaking. For the first time, the whole spatio-temporal pattern of successful migrations can be captured at a level of detail far exceeding that provided by ringing. Satellite tracking can also help discover unknown breeding, moulting or wintering areas of endangered species or causes of massive losses. When combined with other devices, such as thermometers or miniature cameras, additional information of the bird’s behaviour may be transmitted to the satellite.

However, satellite tracking will never replace bird ringing. The reasons for this are simple: transmitters are relatively expensive, a large amount of technical equipment is necessary, and the technique is limited to larger species (though transmitters now weigh as little as 10 g).

EURING will incorporate data from satellite tracking into its database in order to ensure that these extremely valuable data are stored in perpetuity.

The Lesser White-fronted Goose is at present one of Europe‘s most endangered bird species.
The most important single threat throughout it’s range is the high mortality due to hunting and poaching.
The core problem was, and partly still is, that the staging and wintering grounds for the species are
virtually unknown. To locate them, a few individuals from the Fennoscandian population were equipped
with satellite transmitters. They revealed a loop migration from the Norwegian breeding sites to the
moulting area in arctic Siberia, and the winter quarters in Greece.