APLORI Bird Ringing (APBRING) Scheme

Co-ordinating bird ringing activities in Nigeria

Birds are ubiquitous in nature and freely move within and across political and geographical boundaries.

APRING upcoming bird ringing skill training for expert and volunteer ringers 2022 

ABOUT APRING

A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Bird Ringing (APRING) coordinates bird ringing activities within Nigeria, but is overseen by the South African Bird Ringing Scheme (SAFRING), with SAFRING issuing ringing licenses to qualified ringers as well as supplying APRING with bird rings and other ringing materials. The APRING data is submitted to SAFRING biannually to form part of the African ringing database.

The objectives of APRING are:

• Ø To promote and encourage quality scientific research based on ringing data
• Ø Serve as administrative coordinator of all ringing activities in Nigeria and some West African countries
• Ø Conduct scientific studies based on data collected from marked individuals
• Ø Ensure the maintenance of high standards among bird ringers in Nigeria

These objectives are achieved mainly through the coordination and monitoring of projects (CES and project-related bird ringing) across Nigeria, the organization of training workshops, periodic meetings between ringers, and the archiving and maintenance of a countrywide database.

APRING POSTER COLLECTIONS

What information do we collect?

For each bird, the following information are recorded: ring number, species, age, sex, (where appropriate or if possible), wing length(mm), mass(g), location, ringer’s initials, date(hr/min/day/month/year), breeding status (assessed by presence of brood patch), moult (scored from 0-5). Recaptures of individuals both between visits, within and between seasons are vital and must be recorded; multiple recaptures within the same session are rarely recorded. Additional biometrics include tarsus length, bill height, width and depth but these are not uniformly collected in all the projects or sites and are ringer-dependent

Analysing Ringing Data

APRING maintains a database that contains ringing information gathered in Nigeria. If you are interested in applying to analyse data from the database you can do so by contacting Dr. Yahkat Barshep (barshep.yahkat@gmail.com) unit head. Papers reporting the findings of previous analyses based on data from the database are listed here (https://aplori.org/publications).

Data gathered using all marking methods should be archived

We welcome and encourage the use of all methods of collecting bird morphometric and movement data. A lot of valuable data is collected using other non-conventional mark-recapture methods (colour marked rings, patagial, collar and nasal tags, leg flags etc) such as radio transmitters (terrestrial and satellite, geolocators etc), data loggers, drones. Globally, recognition of the importance of these non-conventional methods in collecting data that may be impossible to collect by using just metal rings is acceptable. We consider that it is vital that all bird movement data is secured for the future. We therefore strongly recommend that such data should be submitted for archive.

APRING Databases

The APRING database holds about 47,000 records and 12000 retraps data between 2001-2021 as of March 2022; with figures subject to change as more data are submitted for database upload. The bulk of the data were records within Jos-Plateau, where the institute is located. Information on yearly total catch can be found here (Excel sheet).

APRING encourages and promotes more analyses with the data and welcomes collaboration with scientists all over the world. Request for ringing data should be sent through the ringing coordinator(Dr. Yahkat Barshep)yahkat.barshep@aplori.org to the scientific director(Dr. Talatu Tende) talatu.tende15@gmail.com