MIGRATION OF BIRDS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 126, 14 May 1935, Page 5

MIGRATION OF BIRDS

German Research Work REQUEST TO ROYAL SOCIETY More than 160,000 wild birds annually have rings attached to their feet by two German bird research stations to enable reports from abroad to be collated with other data upon bird migration. In a recent letter from the Internal Affairs Department, a request Is passed on from the German Embassy in London to the Hawke’s Bay branch of the Royal Society seeking its co-operation in the compilation of data. The matter was similarly represented to the Hawke’s Bay Acclimatisation Society at a recent meeting, but as far as members were at that time aware New Zealand was not concerned since the birds referred to were not known to migrate to the neighbourhood of New Zealand.

Inscriptions and figures on the rings attached to the birds’ feet enable reports to be received from all quarters. Every year, in fact, several thousand reports, from South Africa to the Arctic Ocean, reach the two observatories regarding their ringed birds. The observatories send to persons who report precise information, not only in regard to the particular case before them, but about the endeavours of the work generally. The request is made that British authorities and other institutions concerned should be acquainted with the matter, for, it is pointed out, th-j scientific work in question depends on the interest and participation of the widest possible range of people. Every notice of the finding of ringed birds and its transmission to one of the two observatories—the Bird Observatory of the State Biological Institution in Heligoland and the Rositte-Kurische Nehrung Bird Observatory of the Emperor Williams Society for the Promotion of Science—will, in any event, be gratefully acknowledged. An addendum by the department to the letter points out that it is unusual for European species of birds to reach New Zealand by migration. Only sea birds from the North Atlantic, such as the Arctic tern and the Pomatorhine Skua, have been detected. However, should any person in the Dominion find a ringed bird, it is hoped that the ring will be forwarded to the ringing station marked on it.