Colour-ringing is a research technique which allows for marked wild birds to be identified without being recaught. Each colour-ring within a colour-ringing project carries a unique code that can be read from a distance with the use of binoculars, telescope, or camera.

Handling and ringing wild birds is limited to licenced bird-ringers, but anyone can look for and identify colour-ringed birds. This allows a greater number of observers to gather information about individual birds in the wild. Sightings reported by the general public are a key contributor to colour-ring research!

Reports of colour-ringed birds help us understand the biology of the species; how long they live, their relationship to the environment and each other, what spaces they occupy and when, and their movements.

In Europe, colour-ringing is coordinated by EURING, and colour-ring projects can be accessed via the CR-Birding portal. The Merilli Malta CR-Birding pages can be found in the below links:

https://cr-birding.org/node/6131

https://cr-birding.org/node/6132

https://cr-birding.org/node/6133

Bird ringing in Malta is run by BirdLife Malta Ringing Scheme, as recognised by EURING, and licensed by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit.

Started in 2022, this is an ongoing long-term project studying the Blue Rock-thrush in the Maltese Islands. Despite being the national bird of Malta, there still is much to discover about the species' breeding biology and movement ecology.

Since the Blue Rock-thrush is an emblematic and locally widespread bird, it is an ideal candidate for a citizen-science study using colour-ringing. Through the use of colour-ringing, our aims are:

• to study the movements of individuals of different life stages and over the annual cycle;

• to uncover the territories occupied by adult Blue Rock-thrushes;

• to determine whether individuals move between the three islands;

• to look into differences between rural and urban breeding Blue Rock-thrushes.

Each bird is fitted with a colour-ring that bears a unique alpha-numerical code with one letter and two numbers. The rings are coloured according to the island where the bird was caught: white for Malta (starting letter M or A), yellow for Gozo (starting letter G or H), and dark blue for Comino (starting letter K).

This project is led by Dr Benjamin Metzger and Dr Marie Claire Gatt, with the collaboration of other bird ringers from the BirdLife Malta Ringing Scheme. Read about our news and findings here.

Dr Benjamin Metzger is an ecologist and avian biologist, with over twenty years of experience in ornithology. After studying Biology at the University of Heidelberg, he obtained an M. Sc. equivalent in Zoology from the Univsersity of Rostock, and carried out his  Ph. D. at the Insitute of Avian Research "Vogelwarte Helgoland", Germany. Passionate about bird studies since early youth, Benjamin Metzger has been a licensed bird-ringer under various schemes and particpated in countless ringing campaigns on three continents. He has been professionally involved in ornithological research and conservation in Malta and the wider Mediterranean region since 2012.

Dr Marie Claire Gatt is a researcher of avian ecology and a licenced bird-ringer, fascinated by the movement ecology and behaviour of birds. She graduated with a B. Sc. in Biology and Chemistry (Hons.) from the University of Malta, obtained an M. Sc. in Bird Conservation from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, and carried out her Ph. D. at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Throughout the years, she has collaborated with researchers across Europe and beyond on the study of birds.