Aras Bird Ringing Station End Season

Two of Turkey’s three bird-ringing stations, namely Kuyucuk and Aras Bird-Ringing Stations, have just ended their fall 2009 studies. Total number of the birds ringed in both stations through the fieldworks conducted by KuzeyDoğa Society, Kars Directorate of Environment and Forestry, Iğdır Directorate Environment and Forestry and Kafkas University, reached collectively to 5439.

Aras Bird Research and Education Center is located by the Lake of Aras in the village of Yukarı Çıyrıklı, district of Tuzluca, province of Iğdır. The bird-ringing activities at Aras Bird Research and Education Center were initiated in fall 2006, which were organized this year starting on 10 August 2009 and ending on 31 October 2009. On 83 days of bird-ringing studies, 2868 individuals from 74 different species of birds were ringed. Throughout the ringing period, 14 students from Hacettepe, METU, Bosphorus, Istanbul, Yüzüncü Yıl, Ankara and Kafkas Universities volunteered and 9 expert ringers from Czech Republic, England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland boosted the studies. This year, for the first time a turtle dove (Streptopalia turtur) was ringed contrary to the previous years.