S04.2: The EURING swallow project: A ringer’s perspective

During the last decades the population of the Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica has decreased in their European breeding grounds. This decrease varies among regions and countries. To study the causes, the Dutch Ringing Scheme initiated a research program in which amateur ringers are involved. The aims are to collect data on annual production of young, dispersal of offspring, site fidelity and the number of breeding pairs. Regions were chosen to include combinations of three contrasts: rich versus poor soil fertility, wet versus dry and large scale versus small scale agricultural land use. In each region we follow 50 to 150 pairs. Breeding sites are inspected every ten days and all nestlings are ringed. Once per season the breeding adult birds are caught and identified. Every nest gets a unique nestcode. Data entry follows, using a special computer program, by the individual ringers. There is substantial variation in fledgling production per year and per region, dispersal of first breeders, site fidelity of adult birds in later years. We will also present annual survival rates. This project involves many amateur ringers in a single species study and thus combines the large data-gathering capacity of amateurs with professional design and analyses.