EURING Newsletter - Volume 1, November 1996

MEETINGS

In this section of our newsletter, we will offer all relevant information on the meetings organised by EURING, or which will see our involvement at different levels. Our intention is also to inform on different meetings devoted to bird migration. We therefore kindly ask you to send us any information on such initiatives for publication on the newsletter.

EURING MEETINGS 1997

Next year EURING will be actively involved in the organisation of both its technical and general meetings.

EURING 97. Large-scale studies of marked birds.

The next EURING Technical Meeting will be organised and kindly hosted by the BTO, National Centre for Ornithology, between 7-12 April 1997 at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (Norfolk, UK). This will be the sixth in a series of international meetings initiated by EURING, which have greatly contributed to the development of models and methods for the analysis of data gathered through marked birds. Ornithologists, ecologists and statisticians will join the meeting and offer contributions on how to better interpreting data generated through the ringing of wild birds.

Three full days of the conference will be taken up by six scientific sessions. The topics and organisers of the sessions are:

1. Avian survival: estimation models. Dr. Stephen Freeman;
2. Avian movement and survival: estimation methods. Dr. Jim Nichols;
3. Integrated population studies. Dr. Nadav Nur;
4. Population monitoring (numbers and survival). Dr. Will Peach;
5. Applied studies. Dr. Andreas Kaiser;
6. Overviews and future priorities. Drs. Stephen Baillie & Philip North.

Two other initiatives will make this conference an extremely interesting event: the first day of the meeting will be devoted to a short course, held by Dr. Jean-Dominique Lebreton, in order to provide essential background information on the techniques and software, while a computer software session will also be organised by Dr. Roger Pradel.
For all further details on the meeting, please contact: EURING 97 - BTO, National Centre for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU, UK. Tel +44 1842 750050, Fax +44 1842 750030.

These technical meetings are among the most important initiatives EURING has set up; given the very interesting integration of theory and practice which will characterise this next meeting, we hope to get as wide a representation as possible from the different ringing schemes. We hope to see you all in Thetford!!

12th EURING GENERAL MEETING

The next EURING General Meeting will take place in the beautiful Praha, kindly organised and hosted by our Czeck colleagues and friends Jiri Formanek and Jaroslav Skopek. The meeting will take place between October 1st-5th 1997, while the Board will have a preliminary meeting on September 30th. A conference hall just close to the historical Charles Bridge should be available, while accommodation is offered at 50$ single and 90$ double (including breakfast) at Botel Racek (= Larus), a boat hotel on the river Vltava. The conference fee is 30$, inclusive of dinners and excursion. The excursion is planned to a water reservoir in Southern Moravia.

The detailed programme of the meeting is being drafted and will soon be circulated to all Schemes. In the meantime, further details on the meeting will be available through Jiri and Jaroslav: Tel. Ringing Centre +42 2 756 321; fax National Museum +42 2 242 264 88.

Needless to say how important it is to have delegates from ALL schemes joining the General meeting. This is particularly true in this crucial phase for EURING, when a new long-term strategy for bird ringing in Europe is being discussed to be soon implemented.

We ask all delegates who may have problems in attending the meeting (funding, visa, etc.) to contact the organisers as soon as possible, in order to try and solve them, although it will not be easy finding external support.

OTHER MEETINGS

100 YEARS OF BIRD RINGING

In 1999 it will be a century since the first birds ever were ringed by the Danish teacher Mortensen. EURING is planning to organise a special international meeting to celebrate the date, aiming to illustrate ad evaluate the many uses researchers have made in these last 100 years of the different ringing and marking techniques. An important support to organise the conference will come through Jon Fjeldsa, who has contacted EURING expressing also his intention to organise a special event in 1999. At the moment, details on how to organise the congress are being discussed between Ib Clausager, Lucas Jenni and Arie van Noordwijk for EURING together with Jon Fjeldsa; all relevant information on this important initiative which will hopefully be a milestone in the history of scientific bird ringing and EURING will be circulated as available.

FOUNDATION MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGICAL UNION

The foundation of the European Ornithological Union will take place during this first meeting of this new permanent union, scheduled for August 28-30 1997, in Bologna, Italy.

The meeting should attract ornithologists from all over the continent, to analyse the ‘state of the art’ of European Ornithology, and discuss the role, organisation and future of the Union.

The main programme will include talks by invited speakers covering a wide range of topics of relevance to European ornithologists. Plenary talks will be: Half a century with Great Tits (C. Perrins), The European-African songbird migration network: new challenges for large scale study of bird migration (F. Bairlein), Ornithology and the European Conservation Agenda (C. Bibby), History and Evolution of European Bird Faunas (J. Blondel), Sexual selection and birds: Evolution, conservation, and avian models of humane nature (A. Pape Møller), Microevolution in reproductive traits in the Great Tit (A. van Noordwijk), The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds: a contribution to science and conservation (J. Greenwood & W. Hagemeijer), Ecological, morphological and conservation aspects of spring songbird migration strategies across the Mediterranean (F. Spina & A. Pilastro).

Ample opportunities will be offered to present poster papers on different subjects; a certain number of the proposed poster contributions will be selected to be presented as oral papers during six symposia on: Evolutionary biology and population studies, Behavioural ecology, Ecophysiology, Migration and ringing, Atlas projects, Conservation.
During a general assembly the Union will be formally founded; the statute and aims of the Union, as well as its future activities will be discussed and its official representatives appointed by the assembly.

The time table of the congress is as follows: 28 August 1997 assemble Bologna, 29th-30th August full days of meetings, 31st August full day excursion, 1st September departs.

The official language of the meeting will be English; no translation will be available.

The proceedings will be published by the Istituto Nazionale per la Fauna Selvatica as a volume of its series ‘Supplementi alle Ricerche di Biologia della Selvaggina’.

The organising secretary of the Conference will be Dr. Fernando Spina, Istituto Nazionale per la Fauna Selvatica, Via Ca’ Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano Emilia (BO), Italia (Tel. +39 51 65 12 111, Fax +39 51 79 66 28, E-mail: from whom further details will be available.

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