The Ornithological Council is pleased to provide this bimonthly report covering activities in May and June 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. Welcomed a new Supporting Member – the International Ornithologists’ Union. Learn more about supporting members and see the list of current supporting members here.
2. Coordinated and moderated a listening session for the National Science Foundation and the ILAR Standing Committee for the Care and Use of Animals in Research to hear from ornithologists regarding the animal welfare challenges of ornithological research.
3. Renewed the Memorandum of Understanding with the USDA APHIS Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Research Center. The MOU lays the groundwork for partnership and cooperation between the OC and the NWRC.
4. Submitted comments to the USDA Animal and Plants Health Inspection Service on their import/export permits, to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Form 3-177 and the online eDecs system, and to the USFWS on the Form 3–200–7 (application for a Migratory Bird and Eagle Scientific Collecting permit). Learn more – and read the comment letters – here.
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 May and June, we assisted three individuals with permit issues and one IACUC with animal welfare issues.
7.  Posted articles and updates on the Ornithology Exchange:

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

Over the last month, the Ornithological Council has provided three different sets of comments to federal agencies on permitting issues. Given that many of the ornithologists who are members of the organizations that make up the Ornithological Council must secure various permits from federal agencies either regularly or from time to time during their career, ensuring that the process of applying for, renewing, and amending these permits is efficient and predictable is of the utmost concern to the OC.

The OC provided comments to the USDA Animal and Plants Health Inspection Service on their import/export permits. Among other comments, the OC recommended that the permit duration be extended from one year to three years. The comments also recommended clarifying how disease categories apply and which countries can be included on blanket permits (i.e. permits that cover all imports and exports over the permit duration).

The OC also provided comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Form 3-177 and the online eDecs system. Those comments asked that the USFWS add the capacity to upload bulk information on spreadsheets, rather than having to enter each specimen individually within eDecs. The OC also asked that the eDecs system more clearly indicated which permits are needed for each species.

Finally, the OC submitted brief comments on the USFWS Form 3–200–7 (application for a Migratory Bird and Eagle Scientific Collecting permit). The USFWS is proposing to add a question regarding whether institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) approval is required for the work that a permit is being applied for. The OC comments note that a researcher might be applying for a scientific collecting permit before they apply for or secure approval from their institution’s IACUC, and so recommended adding an additional possible answer to the proposed question, which would allow the applicant to indicate that they have not yet applied for or secured IACUC approval but plan to do so before beginning their field work.