bird ringing good or bad

[Naturenutz]

I saw a treecreeper recently that had some point been ringed,also while browsing other sites i have seen many pictures of ringed birds including dipper and lesser spotted woodpecker. I would imagine the dipper was ringed as a nestling as i cant imagine it would be caught in a mist net. I can see the benefits of mist nets but should birds be ringed at the nests as obviosly many are. I cant help thinking they should be left alone at these very sensetive times.Its so easy for a bird to desert a nest in the early stages and also its so easy for the young to leave the nest to early through disturbance .I wonder how many mishaps go unreported with birds deserting etc.Maybe my feelings are not merrited but does anyone else have concerns or can you put my mind at rest that i am overly concerned ?.

[RoyW]

Definitely good.

There is a lot of training involved before you are allowed to go out and ring birds without supervision from someone more experienced, and in part this will teach how, and when, to go about ringing birds at the nest.
As long as nests aren't visited too early (or for too long) it is unlikely that a nest with well grown young will be abandoned, or that the young will come to any harm. Certain things do need to be taken into account, such as the potential chilling effect of visiting in cold or wet conditions, and the risk of leading predators to a nest, but there are unlikelyto be an major problems. For one thing it is definitely in the ringers interest not to cause any problems - the whole point of ringing is for the chance that the birds might be found again at a later stage, and this won't happen if they die in the nest.

There is still a lot of information that can be gained from ringng studies (especially if you include the information that can now be gained, at much greater expense, if satellite tags are used), and the possitives for bird conservation far outweigh the potential for the failure of the occasional nest.
Unfortunately occasional failures do occur on very rare occasions, but I don't believe these are 'covered up', where possible the causes will be shared with other ringers so that any mistakes can be learnt from (One American satellite tagging scheme for Ospreys openly states on their website that a nest was abandoned one year after the male was caught).

[dunlin]

You have to weigh up the pro's and cons. There is no doubt in my mind that ringing birds either at the nest or later caught in mist nets is going to cause some level of stress to the birds
If it causes the parent bird to desert the nest then obviously that wouldn't be acceptable either to the bird or the ringer

Its what you do with the information you collect after, that can be very helpful.

It could be that from ringing records you could determine that a certain site is of significant international importance to a rare bird on migration, and thus help other governments when deciding if they should develop that site

If there is sudden massive decline in a species it could prove helpful knowing which country's and route they take, which river deltas they stop to feed at or deserts they cross. ie the huge decline could be proven to be that weather patterns are to blame

[Adam Cheeseman]

Good. Any mishaps, which do happen and are few and far between, are far outweighed by the benefits to our scientific knowledge for conservation purposes.

Cheers,

Adam

[Hobjob]

Get in touch with your local ringers and go out for a day. (usually it is very early, before dawn!
You will be amazed at their knowledge and concern for birds generally.

You of course will be confined to making the coffee and writing down information; as Roy has said it is a long training process. As far as ringing young Barn Owls are concerned you can only do that when specifically trained for that particular job.

An Arctic Tern ringed as a chick not yet able to fly, on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast in eastern Britain in summer 1982, reached Melbourne, Australia in October 1982, a sea journey of over 22,000 km (14,000 mi) in just three months from fledging.

(From WikiP)

How would we have known that without ringing the baby.

[dunlin]

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Satellite tracker finds goose in freezer
Just read this, not what the researchers where expecting

[Dogghound]

I have rung 100s of birds in the nest. If you know what you are doing (all ringers should as you have to show competence to gain a license) there are not usually any problems. There are a variety of rules which are based on the welfare of the birds. birds tend not to be that willing to abandon nests, much less so than mammals.

I do the local dippers (3 nests) each year, I have found treecreeper nests in the past but they tend to be inaccessible.

[The Woodman]

Originally Posted by dunlin

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Satellite tracker finds goose in freezer
Just read this, not what the researchers where expecting

It's comforting to know there's a goose out there called Major Rutledge!

[JoulesH]

Certainly the ringer who rings on our farm has one thought uppermost in his mind - the welfare of the birds. As said by others, although there may be an occasional mishap, the value in terms of learning about different species and what is happening to them is priceless.

[Naturenutz]

Thanks for all the replies , i understand many of the comments and realise it gathers useful information and i guess i never realised how good the training is,although i cant help feeling that when you see a rarer bird these days it is very likely to have been interfered with in some way.either ringing or tracking devices.Very little wildlife appears to be truly wild and untouched these days but i guess thats the world we live in .I realise ringers are doing a good job and have the wildlife at heart but when i see a rare bird in the wild that has a ring on it ,it almost feels like its not truly wild,but thats just me .
On the other hand it is very good to see there are many people that truly have the wildlife at heart.