Publishers own presentation 

THE NORWEGIAN BIRD RINGING ATLAS presents the results of more than 80 years of ringing in Norway. From the ringing of the first bird, a House Martin in 1914, and until 1999, almost five million birds had been ringed. Almost all of this is due to the great number of voluntary ringers who have contributed an enormous amount of work through many years. In the course of the same period of time almost 100 000 recoveries have been reported to the Norwegian Ringing Scheme. 

The aim of the Ringing Atlas is to present a unique material that has remained inaccessible for far too long. By means of maps and text the Atlas gives an outstanding insight into the migratory habits and movements of the birds throughout the year. Ringing is primarily a scientific method of collecting information about the time and direction of migration, wintering areas, resting sites and causes of death in the different species. There can also be differences within a species as regards sex, age groups and breeding areas. Information on all this, and more too, can be found in the species descriptions. Nevertheless, there is still a great deal of concealed information in this enormous ringing and recovery material. We therefore hope that the Atlas may be an inspiration to more detailed analysis, as well as the initiation of new ringing projects.

THE NORWEGIAN BIRD RINGING ATLAS is a cooperative project between Stavanger Museum, The Natural History Museums and Botanical Garden – University of Oslo, and Lillehammer University College. The book is published in cooperation with the Norwegian Ornithological Society and Norsk Naturbokhandel (the Norwegian Nature Bookshop), and with economic support from the Directorate for Nature Management. This is the first of two volumes which are planned in this series.