EURING Newsletter - Volume 2, December 1998

FOREWORD

Dear Colleagues and friends,

The first issue of the EURING newsletter, published in November 1996, has been very well received within the community of ringing schemes both within and outside Europe.

This publication can become a very useful tool to exchange information on the present situation and the future developments in the use of bird ringing as a tool for basic and applied research.

Thanks to its vast community of highly motivated ringers, in the last two years EURING has been able to launch new co-ordinated large scale projects (like the Swallow Project), start detailed anayses of unique historical sets of recovery data (like the EURING-Vogelwarte Radolfzell project), and plan future efforts to contribute to the better understanding of migratory strategies and routes of groups of species of particular interest (as in the case of the waterfowl migration atlas proposal).

These examples confirm the vitality of our Union and its positive evolution. The last EURING analytical meeting, held in Norwich in 1997, has been a milestone in the further developments of specific statistical models and procedures to make the best possible use of the unique sets of data which only marked individuals can offer to the scientist.

At the international level, EURING has been very active in promoting stronger contacts and co-operation among ringing schemes operating in the different parts of the world.

From this respect, EURING has been involved in the organisation of a specific round table discussion at the XXII I.O.C. in Durban South Africa, which resulted in the accepted proposal for a new standing committee on bird ringing within the I.O.C.

At the same congress, the potential contribution to basic science which can be offered by large-scale projects that can be organised through the network of national ringing schemes has been shown by a symposium devoted to the results of our new Swallow Project.

All these activities are positive premises for welcoming the celebration of the anniversary of the first 100 years of bird ringing through a major international scientific conference organised by EURING in October 1999 and which, we hope, will attract scientists and amateurs from all over the world, who owe so much to tiny rings when trying to unravel the most diverse aspects in the life of birds.

Fernando Spina
EURING President

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