Bird ringing exists in France since 1923. This method of marking using a numbered ring allows documenting the future and the travels of birds. It remains the main method of monitoring at large-scale of individual birds. This activity is managed by the Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d'Oiseaux (CRBPO), at Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), under authority of the ministry in charge of ecology. The CRBPO leads national studies, done by a network of more than 650 ringers.
The CRBPO archives the data - for all research programs using official, numbered metallic rings in France. CRBPO works in partnership with research institutes (CNRS, IRD, Universities, ONCFS, ONF, ...), associations NGOs and local collectivities. These researches would be totally impossible without the collective work of the volunteers and professionals ringers, and data centralization. The data presented here were collected in their great majority by volunteers by either ringers or the public who informs the CRBPO about the discovery of ringed birds. The French bird-ringing network involves more than 650 ringers, who ring more than 350 000 birds annually. All the collected information is archived in a national database housed by the CRBPO. The present site allows you to explore this database, in order to get knowledge about migrations and the functioning of bird populations.
Note that the database you consult contains only the digitalized data. An important part of the historic archives of ringing has not been computerized yet. However, since the year 2000, the entire data are digitalized, thus the database is exhaustive for recent years.
The standard quotation to be used to make reference to data or results extracted from the database managed by the CRBPO is: Dehorter O. & CRBPO (year of consultation). Base de données de baguage et déplacements d'oiseaux de France / Bird ringing and movement database for France. Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d'Oiseaux, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. https://crbpo.mnhn.fr/. Consulté le / Accessed on day/month/year of consultation of the data.
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