Vogeltrekstation (Dutch Centre for Avian Migration and Demography)

The facility

Vogeltrekstation (Dutch Centre for Avian Migration and Demography) is a cooperation between NIOO-KNAW and the Ringersvereniging (bird banding society). It arranges the daily practicalities with relation to catching and ringing of wild birds for science, policy and conservation. Vogeltrekstation plays an essential role within avian research in the Netherlands by training bird ringers, issuing permits and rings, and managing the long-term database. Vogeltrekstation is the only organisation in the Netherlands that can issue individual permits to catch and ring birds. 

Research topics 

Birds, avian migration, zoonoses, breeding, population biology. 

References

Pot, M. T., Visser, M. E., Helm, B., von Rönn, J. A. C., & van der Jeugd, H. P. (2024). Revisiting Perdeck's massive avian migration experiments debunks alternative social interpretations. Biology Letters, 20(7), Article 20240217. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0217

Wiegers, Y., Jongejans, E., Van Turnhout, C. A. M., van den Bremer, L., van der Jeugd, H. P., & Kleyheeg, E. (2022). Integrated population modeling identifies low duckling survival as a key driver of decline in a European population of the Mallard. Ornithological Applications, 124(3), 1-12. Article duac020. https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithapp/duac020

De Vries, E. H. J., Foppen, R. P. B., Van Der Jeugd, H., & Jongejans, E. (2022). Searching for the causes of decline in the Dutch population of European Turtle Doves (Streptopelia turtur). Ibis, 164(2), 552-573. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13031

Sikkema, R. S., Schrama, M., Van Den Berg, T., Morren, J., Munger, E., Krol, L., Van DerBeek, J. G., Blom, R., Chestakova, I., Van Der Linden, A., Boter, M., Van Mastrigt, T., Molenkamp, R., Koenraadt, C. J. M., Van Den Brand, J. M. A., Munnink, B. B. O., Koopmans, M. P. G., & Van Der Jeugd, H. (2020). Detection of west nile virus in a common whitethroat (curruca communis) and culex mosquitoes in the Netherlands, 2020. Eurosurveillance, 25(40), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.40.2001704

McLean, N., Kruuk, L. E. B., van der Jeugd, H. P., Leech, D., van Turnhout, C. A. M., & van de Pol, M. (2022). Warming temperatures drive at least half of the magnitude of long-term trait changes in European birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(10), e2105416119. Article e2105416119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2105416119

Running period

1911-current

Equipment/facilities

• Issuing ringing permits and metal bird rings
• National surveillance zoonotic infectious diseases in birds
• Webshop for ringing equipment: https://vogeltrekstation.nl/
• Web application and database GRIEL (https://www.griel.nl/) for ringing and recovery data
• Bird migration atlas (https://vogeltrekatlas.nl/)

Data management

The Dutch Centre for Avian Migration and Demography (Vogeltrekstation) adheres to robust data management practices that align with the FAIR principles—Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. 

The bird ringing and recovery details are stored in a database that can be accessed through a user-friendly platform online (www.griel.nl) by licensed bird ringers with a user account. The database makes use of unique identifiers for the birds, but also each capture, making the data easily findable. Members of the Public can enter reports on ringed birds they found through the same platform, and receive ringing data of the bird they found through their email or via post if they wish to. 

Through EURING, researchers can request ringing and re-encounter data from all connected European ringing schemes, including ours, which will then be provided by the data manager manually in the requested format. Interoperability is supported by use of the standardized EURING format, used by ringing schemes world-wide (https://euring.org/files/documents/EURING2000%2BCodev112.pdf). 

A separate program is available to ringers to transform various file formats (.DBF, .DB, .TXT, .CSV, .SSV, .EUR) to create highly standardized XML-format input files, which can then be processed via our online platform GRIEL. 

Available datasets

All ringing and re-encounter data from 1911 onwards, managed at https://www.griel.nl/ visualised at www.vogeltrekatlas.nl 

Condition for access

Data is available for analyses, access can be subject to costs. Contributing ringers are free to use the data, external parties pay a differentiated fee depending on the type of use.