The Swiss Ornithological Institute has been caring for the Swiss chook inhabitants for 100 years.
KEYSTONE
The Swiss Ornithological Institute was based 100 years in the past with the inauguration of the Swiss Bird Observatory tower close to Sempach in central Switzerland.
At the centenary celebration on Saturday, Swiss President Viola Amherd described birds as “ambassadors of biological diversity”.
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“If the living conditions for birds are no longer right, the same is often the case for other animal and plant species,” stated Amherd. Of the 200 chook species that breed in Switzerland, 40% are endangered.
There is subsequently a necessity for “active involvement, on the one hand at all political levels and on the other hand at the social level”. The chook observatory is setting a great instance right here.
On the event of its one centesimal anniversary, the chook observatory invited company to a ceremony with audio system, reveals and a chook music workshop.
Mved to greater home
Emerging science and advancing industrialisation motivated many individuals to guard the birds at the moment, stated Bird Observatory spokeswoman Livio Rey. These subjects are nonetheless related immediately. “The work of the bird observatory itself hasn’t changed that much, apart from the methods.”
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Alfred Schifferli, a passionate ornithologist and visionary, supplied a room in his home for the newly based chook observatory in 1924 and have become its first director. The observatory’s imaginative and prescient stays to know the native chook world and protect its variety for future generations.
The coordination of chook ringing was one of many chook observatory’s preliminary primary duties. In addition, it constructed a reference library with ornithological writings for research functions to gather data about birds and make it accessible to everybody.
With the rising monetary assist from chook followers from everywhere in the nation, the chook observatory was in a position to flip to different duties.
With rising monetary assist from the general public, the observatory was given a newly constructed building on the lakeshore round 1955. At this time the observatory was transferred to a basis.
It has round 40,000 guests per 12 months, and the free info service receives a number of thousand emails and phone calls yearly.
International cooperation
The use of geolocators has revolutionised data about chook migration in recent years. Because they solely require a small, light-weight battery, they make it potential to trace the migratory conduct of small birds. Previously, solely GPS transmitters have been in use that would document the actions of enormous birds comparable to eagles or storks.
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“The bird world reflects how we treat the environment,” says Rey. “Unfortunately, many habitats have been destroyed in the past hundred years.”
The observatory has just lately additionally been working on a global stage. It coordinates the African-Eurasian Action Plan for Migratory Land Birds (AEMLAP) to make sure the long-term survival of those migratory birds of their breeding and winter quarters and through migration.
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Adapted from German by DeepL/mga
