The Ornithological Council is pleased to provide this bimonthly report covering activities in March and April 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. Updated the Ornithological Council’s website, http://www.birdnet.org, which contains extensive information about the permits that are required for ornithological research. That information has recently been reviewed and updated as needed – including information and links to scientific collecting and banding permit applications for all 50 states in the US. There is also information about US federal permits, as well as the provincial and federal permits required in Canada. Check out the updated permitting information here.

2. Continued the transfer of the Ornithology Exchange. Earlier this year, the OC took over management of the Ornithology Exchange. Since then, we have been reviewing existing content, cleaning up old parts of the site, and exploring new ways to use the OE. Some OC societies are currently taking advantage of the ability to have private discussion forums on OE for their boards or committees. If you are interested in doing so, or have other feedback on OE and how to make it more valuable to the ornithological community, please contact me (laurabiesoc@gmail.com).

3. Welcomed a new Supporting Member – the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley. Learn more about supporting members and see the list of current supporting members here.

4. Explored new CDC guidance regarding import permits and reached out to both the CDC and the Department of Transportation regarding how this guidance will affect importation of bird specimens and samples. These conversations are ongoing. The OC’s Import Guide will be updated to reflect this information once our questions are answered.

5. Continued work on our update of the Guidelines to the Use of Wild Birds in Research. We are currently in the process of reviewing the literature for new papers published since the 2010 publication of the current edition. New reference lists for each chapter are being made available on BIRDNET.org once completed, and once all chapter updates are ready, a new PDF of the complete Guidelines with the new references will be compiled and posted online.

6. Provided direct individual assistance to ornithologists who belong to OC societies regarding how to obtain the permits necessary to complete their research. During March and April, we assisted seven individuals with permit issues.

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

• Recovering America’s Wildlife Act Reintroduced
  
• Guam Kingfisher reintroduction finalized
  
• Critical habitat designated for Rufa Red Knot
  
• Scientists challenge USFWS director qualifications
  
• CDC release new permitting e-tool
  
• USFWS reopens bi-state Sage Grouse comment period
  
• Ornithological Council’s website on permitting updated
  
• ABC and partners sue FAA over rockets’ effects on birds
• COMMENT OPPORTUNITY: Black-capped Petrel listing open for comment again

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

The Ornithological Council is pleased to provide this bimonthly report covering activities in January and February 2023. The Ornithological Council’s mission is to:

The Ornithological Council has released its 2022 Annual Report – read it to learn more about how the OC serves the ornithological community and what we accomplished last year.

The Ornithological Council recently reached out to the Secretary of the Interior, to think the department for reversing its moratorium on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. In late 2019, the Department grounded all Chinese-made drones. Then, in early 2020, the Secretary of the Interior extended that decision to all drone use by the Department and its agencies, in the name of national security.

The Ornithological Council has long support the use of drones in wildlife research, management, and conservation. In late 2017, the Ornithological Council asked the Office of the Solicitor to advise the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, other federal agencies, and the state agencies that the use of drones for wildlife research is not subject to the Airborne Hunting Act. It also asked that if the Solicitor determines that the use of drones to study wildlife is subject to the AHA, then the Solicitor should address the need for federal permits because there are few, if any, state laws pertaining to drone use for wildlife research and monitoring.

Then, in early 2018, the OC filed a petition for rulemaking, asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue permits for the use of drones to study wildlife. That petition for rulemaking proposed the changes necessary for the USFWS to issue permits under the AHA, since, if the Solicitor determines that the use of drones for wildlife research is covered by the AHA, permits would be needed.

Now that the drone ban has been lifted, the Ornithological Council supports the development of regulations supporting the appropriate use of drones in wildlife research, management, and conservation.

Read the recent letter to DOI here.

More background on the use of drones to research birds is available here.

The OC’s fact sheet on drones is available here.