Ringing and photography (1 Viewer)

I support that ringing gives valuable data and I support the Antikythira project in Greece.
However I am getting rather concerned by the current practice of the birds seemingly transported to the observatory from the ringing site and then it appears being held for a photo shoot !

I am not a ringer/bander, but have been on the raptor migration studies there, this was not the practice at the ringing station then. A bird at a time yes but keeping species back for a picture, especially when these birds are usually pretty tired during their migration north seems a bit much !

My question really is ... have things changed from the way birds were caught, ringed and released as soon as possible to give as little stress as possible and are the protocols different in other countries

A link to the latest page shows a trio of bee-eater on show.

http://blogs.ornithologiki.gr/osa/?p=4685

Must admit I am with you Colin, that bee-eater photo looks like it was studio shot. I've no objections to photography in the field but to subject the birds to addition stress by needlessly holding on to them is just plain wrong.

Also it would have taken more than a few shots to get three bee-eaters to pose so perfectly together! So that would have taken time, too much time for those birds:-C

The picture looks photo-shopped. There's something about it looks fake (birds looking different sizes, 'clean edges', and not even looking at each other?). I suspect the arms and birds have been cut out and put onto a grey background rather than the birds being transported and then made to pose.

I don't think the images are photoshopped, others on links below if you look at all the April and May entries they all seem to be taken in front of a blue background.

Also is it not detrimental to the smaller bird species to have so many rings put on as in the last two links ?

http://blogs.ornithologiki.gr/osa/?p=4682

http://blogs.ornithologiki.gr/osa/?p=4634

http://blogs.ornithologiki.gr/osa/?p=4624

http://blogs.ornithologiki.gr/osa/?p=4613

Dead against anything which delays a quick release. Maybe they have a screen in the field for the photos ?

Most ringing sites (of those which trap passerines with mistnets) work so that birds are taken from the nets to one place for ringing, measuring and release. There may also be a grey canvas or something for nicer and more colour neutral background of photos. So birds are not taken anywhere for just photographing.

Because of digital cameras, photographing of ringed birds is surely more common nowadays. Photographing may be even an important part of gathering the data. Somebody even argued that every bird should be photographed, because the other way would be throwing out potentially valuable information. Probably few projects which trap a larger number of birds actually do that.

Hi form AntIkythira,
I was just informed about the thread and I will try to give a swift but full answerer.
The shots are not taken in a Studio, it is just a grey canvas under a umbrella five steps just behind the ringing table. Not all birds are photographed, usually only one or two per day and for sure not those that are tiered or depleted.
I have to mention that I am not against shooting healthy birds under stable studio conditions if that is necessary to collect valuable data that can lead to new knowledge and bird conservation. Nevertheless this is not the case on Antikythira as the ringing table is in the field, just on the borders of the netting area.
The whole process does not take more than a minute or two. For that reason the photos are far from perfect. If you want to see really good pictures from birds trapped during bird ringing please have a look at the web sites of one of the big Scandinavian Bird Observatories.
Regarding the Bee eaters they are social birds usually they are trapped together and they should be released together. Taking a shoot just before resealing does not make much harm if they are healthy.
Cheers
Christos,
Bird ringing coordinator at the Antikythira Bird Observatory