The Ornithological Council has released another updated version of A Guide to the Processes and Procedures for Importing Bird Products into the United State for Scientific Research and Display. This extensive guide, which was thoroughly updated in 2020, provides a step-by-step guide for ornithologists importing birds or bird products into the U.S. for research and display, including template documents and checklists to follow. The recent updates were made to ensure that the guide remains up to date as permitting requirements and system change. 

The Import Guide is available to download for free from the Ornithological Council’s website at BIRDNET.org, as a service to the ornithological community. It contains sections on the import permitting requirements of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA APHIS, and the Centers for Disease Control, as well as information about planning your travel and how to ship your specimen. It leads the ornithologist through the entire process, from paperwork to port and beyond. In addition to the hard-and-fast rules and requirements, this guide also offers best practices and helpful hints.

The guide is updated regularly as agency permitting requirements change, keeping ornithologists in compliance with the many laws and regulations governing the import of bird products.

If you have any questions after reading the Import Guide or find areas that require further clarification, please contact Laura Bies (laurabiesoc@gmail.com), Executive Director of the Ornithological Council.

The Ornithological Council is pleased to provide this bimonthly report covering activities in July and August 2023. 

Our work focuses on permits for ornithological research, animal welfare issues, research funding, and other policies that affect ornithologists and ornithological societies. We greatly appreciate your support. Please contact our Executive Director with questions or concerns about this report or about any other matter of concern to your society or your society’s members.

In this time period, Ornithological Council staff:

1. Released the 4th edition of the Guidelines to the Use of Wild Birds in Research. The 4th edition incorporates text from the 3rd edition (published in 2010) with lists of new references published since that edition’s release for each chapter. The Guidelines provides an in-depth guide to the animal welfare considerations when performing research involving wild birds, including ethical considerations and the legal framework that must be followed by researchers. Topics include: investigator impact generally, collecting and trapping, marking, transport, housing and captive breeding, minor and major manipulative procedures, and euthanasia. Thanks to the volunteers who provided the updated reference lists for each chapter!
2. Submitted comments to the US Fish and Wildlife Service on their proposed revisions to the regulations governing migratory bird and eagle permits. The proposed changes span several sections of regulations and several permit types, modifying five existing regulatory authorizations (situations where a permit is not necessary) and proposing several new regulatory authorizations. Learn more about the proposed changes and the OC’s suggestions in our comment letter.
3. Submitted comments on the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal to update its regulations regarding the exhibition of migratory birds and eagles. The USFWS is proposing to issue new migratory bird exhibition regulations to authorize possession of live, non-releasable or captive-bred migratory birds for use in teaching people about migratory bird conservation and ecology, and to revise the regulations authorizing eagle exhibition. Learn more about the proposed changes and the OC’s suggestions in our comments.
4. Provided direct individual assistance to ornithologists who belong to OC societies regarding how to obtain the permits necessary to complete their research. During July and August, we assisted two individuals with permit issues. We also assisted law enforcement investigators with the US Fish and Wildlife Service with finding experts regarding a wildlife trafficking case.

5. Posted articles and updates on the Ornithology Exchange regarding:

The OC weighs in on permitting issues

The OC comments on USFWS migratory bird exhibit proposal

Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza and Wild Birds releases statement

Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-owl listed as threatened under ESA

OC comments on USFWS permit changes

New edition of the Guidelines to the Use of Wild Birds in Research now available

Report released on high pathogenicity avian influenza in wildlife in South America and Antarctica

All these updates, and more, are always available on the ‘News From the OC’ forum on Ornithological Exchange.

The Ornithological Council has released a new edition of its foundational publication, the Guidelines to the Use of Wild Birds in Research. The 4th edition incorporates text from the 3rd edition (published in 2010) with list of new references published since that edition’s release.

The Guidelines provides an in-depth guide to the animal welfare considerations when performing research involving wild birds, including ethical considerations and the legal framework that must be followed by researchers. Topics include: investigator impact generally, collecting and trapping, marking, transport, housing and captive breeding, minor and major manipulative procedures, and euthanasia.

First published in 1988, by the Wilson Ornithological Society, the Cooper Ornithological Society, and the American Ornithologists’ Union – with encouragement and financing from the National Science Foundation – the Guidelines to the Use of Wild Birds in Research was later revised in 1997, 1999, and 2010.

Since its inception in 1992, the Ornithological Council has assumed responsibility for periodic revisions of the Guidelines. This new edition was made possible by the contributions of several individuals who conducted literature searches for each chapter and compiled lists of new references. Chapter reference lists were provided by Kayla Martin (Chapter 2), Laura Bies (Chapters 4, 5, and 8), Ian Ausprey (Chapter 3), Jeanne Fair and Alicia Romero (Chapter 6), Lisa Tell and Emily Graves (Chapter 7), and Rick Spaulding and Émile Brisson Curadeau (Drone Supplement). The text remains that from the 3rd edition, skillfully written and compiled by Anne Barrett Clark, Clara Davie, Jeanne Fair, Jason Jones, Gary Kaiser and Ellen Paul.

You can download a PDF of the Guidelines to the Use of Wild Birds in Research here.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service previously announced proposed revisions to their regulations governing migratory bird and eagle permits. The proposed changes span several sections of regulations and several permit types, modifying five existing regulatory authorizations (situations where a permit is not necessary) and proposing several new regulatory authorizations.

The Ornithological Council submitted comments on the proposal, touching on many of the proposed regulatory changes. In particular, the OC thanked the USFWS for the proposed citizen salvage provision, which would allow citizens to collect and donate to museums and education institutions bird carcasses they find, without requiring them to secure a salvage permit. The OC was also grateful to see the proposed regulatory authorization for drone use in ornithological research, which the OC has been working towards for years. 

Learn more about the other proposed changes and the OC’s suggestions in our comment letter. 

The Ornithological Council submitted comments on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal to update its regulation regarding the exhibition of migratory birds and eagles. Currently, the agency regulates the exhibition of migratory birds under a Special Purpose Possession Live permit (through FWS Form 3–200–10c, issued under 50 CFR 21.95) and the exhibition of bald eagles and golden eagles under an Eagle Exhibition Live permit (through FWS Form 3–200–14, issued under 50 CFR 22.50)

The USFWS is proposing to issue new migratory bird exhibition regulations to authorize possession of live, non-releasable or captive-bred migratory birds for use in teaching people about migratory bird conservation and ecology, and to revise the regulations authorizing eagle exhibition.

Under the USFWS’ proposal, the agency would continue to regulate the movement of migratory birds from the wild to exhibition, with the care of exhibition birds primarily regulated by USDA under the Animal Welfare Act, through a mechanism called a regulatory authorization, which would establish eligibility criteria and conditions for the take or possession of migratory birds by an entity without requiring a permit to conduct those activities.

The OC’s comments supported the use of a regulatory authorization for those institutions that are registered with the USDA under the Animal Welfare Act, thereby reducing the regulatory burden for exhibitors of migratory birds and eagles.

In 2010, the USFWS proposed new regulations for the possession and use of migratory birds in educational programs and exhibits, but that regulation was never finalized. Read the Ornithological Council’s comments on the 2010 proposal here.

Learn more about the USFWS’ proposed changes here.

Read the Federal Register notice from the USFWS here.