The beginning of a systematic bird ringing in Lithuania
In Lithuania, systematic bird ringing was initiated by the Lithuanian University in 1929. The initiator of this activity was Prof. Tadas Ivanauskas (1882–1970).
Total 380 of birds belonging to 26 species were ringed by 31 ringers in Lithuania in 1929. The majority of ringed birds were ringed as nestlings and only 19 of birds belonging to seven species were ringed as full-grown birds. The top species were Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), White Storks (Ciconia ciconia), Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica).
No doubt Prof. T. Ivanauskas also ringed birds before 1929, but it is not known how many birds were ringed in that time as such records haven’t survived. In the database of recovered birds ringed in Lithuania there are two records about two birds ringed in Lithuania in 1925 and 1928.
German rings “Vogelwarte Rossitten” provided by Rossitten Ornithological Station (the first Ornithological Station in the World founded on the Curonian Spit in 1901) were used for bird ringing in Lithuania in the beginning. Original Lithuanian rings were produced and started to be used in 1931. The inscriptions on these rings were as follows: UNIVERSITE LITHUANIE or UNIVERSITE KAUNAS LITHUANIE. Later these inscriptions were changed to MUS ZOOL LITHUANIE and MUS ZOOL KAUNAS LITHUANIE.