Precisely localized observations are increasingly in demand, especially during the breeding season. This precision provides essential information for protection and promotion projects.

While recording observations, it is therefore very important that it is made in the right place. Whether on ornitho.ch or on NaturaList, the tip of the red pointer on the map should always define the location of the bird/animal observed (and NOT where YOU are!). In mountainous areas, precise localizations also have the advantage that they provide automatically the right altitude, the average altitude of a square kilometer being less accurate for this purpose.

With NaturaList, all observations are recorded with pinpoint accuracy. Remember to slide the map back and forth to place the actual location of the animal beneath the tip of the red pointer. On ornitho.ch you can give a precise location in observation lists too. Simply click on the “+”sign to the left of the species name and then on the "Map" tab. Then select the correct location by clicking on the map on the corresponding place.

We wish you inspiring observations!

Your ornitho.ch team

 

At this time of year more and more ducks families are observed on lakes and rivers. Apart from Mallards, all kinds of wild ducks are monitored by the "monitoring of selected species" program for which the total number of brood is counted. In order to obtain an accurate synthesis at the end of the breeding season we need precise information. For these observations it is therefore important to mention specifically the number of families present and, for each family, the amount of chicks and their size has to be specified (remarks field). The following link gives indications on how to estimate the size of chicks relatively to the size of adults: Altersbestimmung bei Jungenten / Détermination de l'âge des canetons).

Thanks in advance for these precisions. They simplify the data analysis and the monitoring of rare species.

Twice a year, the Swiss Ornithological Institute publishes the so-called “ID-Bulletin”. This report summarizes the most interesting bird sightings and developments on the Swiss Avifauna over the last months. The main information source of this report are the sightings posted on ornitho.ch. Additionally, updates of the different monitoring projects of the Swiss Ornithological Institute are presented as well as interesting ring founds. The latest issue can be found here in French or German.

We wish you an enjoyable reading!

The ornitho.ch team

Photos contribute significantly to the attractiveness of the ornitho.ch website. Even though high-quality photos are particularly pleasing to us all, photos of average quality absolutely have their place on ornitho.ch as well. They can be helpful, for example, in documenting an exceptional observation. One day, artificial intelligence will also help us to identify photos or find errors. To train such a system, even average photos are valuable. Nevertheless, use your common sense and avoid photos in which the birds can only be seen as pixels. Photographed screens from digital cameras are equally undesirable. In the field, this is an easy way to add a "photo" to your message. Unfortunately, however, the quality of the photo is too poor. Therefore, please always upload the original photos and make sure they are the right way round and not rotated 90 degrees.

In the bird gallery we would like to focus on the birds themselves. For this reason, we are grateful if you do not post photos of habitats or landscapes. The gallery is also not intended to denounce situations or behaviour: photos showing people (disturbances or just observers in action) are undesirable.

Photos of nests can be helpful in certain situations for documenting an unusual brood. In most cases, however, we ask that you do not take photos of nests to avoid disturbing breeding activity. Similarly, photographs of birds in hand are not desirable unless they are observations which are assessed by the Swiss Rarities Committee.

It goes without saying that the photos must be of the reported observation. The system therefore automatically checks whether the date of the photograph matches the date of the observation.

We hope that these basic rules will help you in choosing your photos to keep our gallery pleasant and informative.

Your ornitho.ch team

The data collected during the nesting period are particularly important for monitoring our bird populations. The atlas codes are an integral part of this. They describe in a simple way the main breeding behaviour and tell us whether breeding is possible, probable or certain. The atlas codes therefore increase the value of the observations. They also play an important role in the selection of data for local, regional and national surveys.

When should an atlas code be used?

An atlas code is required for observations of species breeding in Switzerland during the breeding season. For these species, a special page is displayed on ornitho.ch and NaturaList after the data has been entered, according to a defined period for each species. Select the code that best corresponds to the observation (choosing the highest if several possibilities are suitable). On the observation lists, a box appears on the right when the code is requested. If necessary (especially for species A and B from atlas code 7 onwards), an atlas code can also be added outside the predefined periods (e.g. a White Stork building a nest in late March). To do this, simply choose the appropriate code from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the entry form.

We wish you interesting observations!

The ornitho.ch team

The Swiss Rarities Committee (SRC) has published the minutes of its last meeting, held on 6 March 2023, on the SRC website (www.vogelwarte.ch/src). Among the reports accepted during that meeting are the 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th to 6^th records of Bonelli's Eagle in category A and the 5^th and 6^th record of Pallas's Leaf-warbler. The Bonelli's Eagle records refer to French birds wearing transmitters but not observed in the field.

Forms for the Swiss Rarities Committee can now be submitted directly to ornitho.ch. The online form appears automatically when a sighting needs to be documented. Please note that a detailed description of the bird and/or the voice and the circumstances of the observation are particularly important. Any complements (e.g. field sketch, photographs) are welcome. In the normal case, the person who discovered the bird is responsible for the sighting documentation.

The SRC thanks you for your collaboration and wishes you many interesting observations!

The House Sparrow occurs in Ticino in a hybridisation zone with the Italian Sparrow, which extends from the Gotthard to the Bellinzona area. All individuals south of Bellinzona are Italian Sparrows according to current knowledge and should be reported as such.

Here too, some males may exhibit characteristics of the House Sparrow; in this case the entry "Italian x House Sparrow" may be selected.

If you see a "pure" House Sparrow south of Bellinzona, we would be grateful for photo evidence.

Thank you very much for your cooperation!

Source: https://www.vogelwarte.ch/atlas

Just in time for the beginning of spring, ornitho.ch has moulted and now shows itself in a new layout. Explore the new layout by clicking on the button "Try the new version of the site" at the top. We see the new appearance as an interim solution, which will undergo a number of further optimizations in the medium to long term. The biggest achievement of the current solution is that the layout is now "responsive", i.e. it adapts as best as possible to the dimensions of the respective screen on all devices.

One or the other adjustment may take some time getting used to: If, for example, a record is modified, the modification on the page with the listed observations is only visible after refreshing the page (e.g. pressing the F5 key). There is also no indication of the number of pages with observations anymore. If you want to see more observations, scroll down and new observations will be loaded continuously. Sometimes it takes loading takes a second or two. The goal of these adjustments is to limit the requests to the servers to the most necessary.

Please test the new design! We offer you the possibility to make suggestions for improvement (top left on the start screen under "YOUR OPINION MATTERS"). Note: We and the developer company will not be able to respond in all cases, but your feedback will still be received. At the same place you can also press the button "BACK TO THE OLD VERSION OF THE SITE" if you don't like the new layout at all. So for the time being you can still switch back and forth between the old and the new design.

We wish you a lot of fun with our new design!
Your ornitho.ch team

 

Currently, the intensity of bird migration is increasing. Many Stonechat are already on the move. Their migration peaks at the end of March (upper diagram). The plumage of the females is quite variable and so it happens that certain birds with a supercilium are sometimes mistakenly identified as Whinchat. However, the latter do not appear in our area until April, with a peak at the end of April/beginning of May (lower diagram). Moreover, the first arrivals of Whinchat are usually males, which are easy to identify as such.

If you think you have a Whinchat in your binoculars at the moment, take the time to look at it carefully: the Whinchat has a longer wing (long primary projection) and above all, white at the base of the tail, which is visible in flight. The white patch on the primary coverts is not always present in females. Please note that the species is considered by the Swiss Rarities Committee in March and it is necessary to provide a good description of the bird or good photos to document a possible sighting.

Your ornitho.ch-Team

Photo: Stonechat (D. Winzeler)

During the breeding season, many sites are visited in search of particular breeding species (e.g. nocturnal raptors, corncrakes, Rallidae or Peregrine Falcons). In most cases, we only receive data on species actually encountered. However, it is also interesting for us to know that a targeted search for a rare or difficult-to-detect species did not result in its presence during the nesting period (so-called absence data).

We would therefore be grateful if you could send us this type of information as well, by entering on ornitho.ch a number of 0 and an atlas code of 99 for the species in question (which means "Species not recorded despite active search during the nesting period"). It is also useful to give us more information in the "Comment" field (e.g. "nesting site not occupied since at least 2017"). In contrast, non-breeding season absence data should never be reported with an atlas code 99.

We naturally hope that your targeted research will be successful and thank you very much for your important cooperation.

Your ornitho.ch-Team