Bird ringing is one of the important activities of Południowowielkopolska Grupa of Ogólnopolskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Ptaków (South Wielkopolska Group of the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds, later referred as PwG OTOP).

        Area

        South Wielkopolska, area of activity of PwG OTOP, covers about 5800 square kilometers. There are 8 powiats (districts) in southern part of Wielkopolskie województwo (province): Kalisz town district, Kalisz land district, Kępno, Krotoszyn, Jarocin, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Ostrzeszów and Pleszew districts.

        Legal permissions

        The ringing activity was conducted in accordance with Polish law (Nature Protection Act from 1991, replaced by Nature Protection Act from 2004) with the personal permissions number 41/2003, 43/2004 and 45/2005 for Paweł T. Dolata (2003-2005), and similar personal permissions for Robert Hybsz (2004-2005), all of them received from the Institute for Ornithology of Polish Academy of Science in Gdańsk, on behalf of Country Ethical Commission (decision no DB/KKE/PL-52/2003). In the case of Black Stork, which nests are protected by special zones with forbidden enter, special permissions for enter to the zones were obtained from the provincial nature protection authorities.

        Species and numbers

        In the table below you can find, in the systematical order (according to the recommendations of TAC of AERC, see www.aerc.be), species (English and Latin names according to BirdLife International 2004) and numbers of birds ringed in South Wielkopolska during PwG OTOP activity. We are focused on the only few species, ringed in projects: ringing of Swallows Hirundo rustica (part of “EURING Swallow” international project) on the common roost on the Trzcieliny fishponds (2003, part of the Przygodzice Fishponds in the “Barycz Valley” Landscape Park and Special Protected Area, Ostrów Wielkopolski district), researches of White Storks Ciconia ciconia and Black Storks Ciconia nigra, Barn Owl Tyto alba, Jackdaw Corvus monedula, Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor and Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio. Large majority of these birds was ringed in Ostrów Wielkopolski district (powiat in Polish), most of the Passeriformes birds in Krotoszyn district (2004-2005), lesser numbers in Jarocin district (White and Black Storks, Barn Owls and Barn Swallows), Kępno district (2004, Jackdaws) and Ostrzeszów district in (2004-2005, Black Stork and Barn Swallows). Birds in the Krotoszyn district were ringed by Robert Hybsz, in the other districts by Paweł T. Dolata

        For a few species our ringing in South Wielkopolska is an important part of the total bird ringing in Poland. For example, in 2003 we ringed 215 of the 682 White Storks (31.5 %), 16 of the 57 Black Storks (28%) and 13 of the 66 Barn Owls (19.7%) ringed in all the country (Mokwa et al. 2004). In 2004 we ringed 318 of the 978 White Storks (32.5%), 24 of the 118 Black Storks (20,3%), 17 of the 49 Barn Owls (34.7%), 90 of the 520 Red-backed Shrikes (17.3%) and 66 of the 110 Jackdaws (60%) ringed in all the country (Mokwa et al. 2005).

        In the part „More” You can find links to the articles or notes (in Polish only now, but we hope that ringing recoveries are quite clear) on this website about researches, ringing and ringing recoveries of the most important in our activity.

Table. Bird ringing as a part of PwG OTOP activity in South Wielkopolska in 2003-2005
nest = number of nestlings, a&j = number of adults and juveniles, tot = total number

        Acknowledgements

        We are grateful to all the colleagues, which gave us a lot of help in the bird ringing: Jerzy Bartuzi, Sławomir Ignaczak, Robert Kaczmarek, Przemek Kaźmierczak, Wojtek Kaźmierczak, Tomasz Luboński, Jarosław Manias, Damian Łowicki, Krzysztof Parusiński, Marek Pawlicki, Jakub Pruchniewicz, Sebastian Przybylski, Marcin Rachel, Marcin Siedlecki, Bartosz Skrzypczak, Tadeusz Stawik, Leszek Szukalski, Wojciech Szukalski, Mieczysław Szymański, Sylwester Szymański, Piotr Zduniak and especially: Marcin Antczak, Tomasz Ekiert, Mariusz Mikołajczyk, Miłosz Nowak, Jacek Pietrowiak, Marek Radziszewski, Norbert Słaby and Mariusz Wolski.

        References

BirdLife International 2004. Birds in Europe: population estimates, trends and conservation status. BirdLife International, Cambridge. (BirdLife International Conservation Series No. 12)
Mokwa T., Nowakowska M., Zawadzka A. 2004. Sprawozdanie z obrączkowania ptaków w roku 2003. (Bird ringing raport 2003). Zakład Ornitologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Gdańsk.
Mokwa T., Nowakowska M., Zawadzka A. 2005. Sprawozdanie z obrączkowania ptaków w roku 2004. (Bird ringing raport 2004). Zakład Ornitologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Gdańsk.