Post date: May 9, 2014 12:21:17 PM
I just undertook the very first ringing session of a new Constant Effort Site (CES) located by the lake Krankesjön in Skåne, Sweden. It was a very modest start, but I'm convinced it will greatly improve in the near future, as preliminary ringing at this site during last year resulted in the capture of large numbers of individuals of many bird species. In order to divulge the results, I created this webpage and blog, which I named Krankesjöns Ringing Station, although at the moment it does not look like a ringing station at all!
Since I became a full-licensed ringer in Sweden (last year), I wanted to start a ringing project that would produce interesting results. I have argued in conferences and discussions with other ringers and colleagues that it no longer makes sense to use the traditional ringing method without specific purposes. Individually-marking birds has been carried out for more than 100 years, from which a lot has been learned, and recently led to the publication of ringing atlases in various countries. However, the scientific benefit of marking birds just with a metal ring is now much lower, especially with the development of new technologies to follow individuals and flocks. Ringing with a metal ring is still extremely important (in fact essential) for many studies, but ringing without a specific purpose, with the hope that the birds might eventually be recaptured somewhere (or at the same site) and that the data might eventually be useful for something, does not justify subjecting the birds to any risks, even if very small, of injury, death or just some fitness loss.
Hence, I volunteered to start a new CES, of which there are still few in Sweden. I had been involved in such projects in Portugal, running a CES and being co-responsible for the Portuguese CES program. CESs are used in many parts of Europe to monitor bird populations (see additional information in this webpage), and it is important to have many sites in various habitats for robust estimates of population change and other demographic parameters. Krankesjön's CES would also be useful for some other research projects that I am involved (and of colleagues), to train students and new ringers, and eventually also for environmental education.
Anyway, this is just the beginning! The site needs a lot of improvement (today I got wet and muddy four times!), and the effort is quite high and difficult to maintain when one has a busy schedule. But, with the help of various colleagues, students and trainees, I hope that this CES is maintained at least for a few years. In addition to the CES, I will divulgue here other ringing activities around Krankesjön for which I am responsible (but not that of other full-licensed ringers operating in the area), eventually including some intensive ringing during the migratory periods as well as of specific projects.
I will also try to increase the Swedish text at this website, although this might be slow, as despite being in Sweden, intermittently, for quite a few years now, my Swedish is still rather poor...
Hope you will enjoy this!
Júlio M. Neto