The Catalan Ornithological Institute, (Institut Català d'Ornitologia, ICO) is a non-lucrative association devoted to the study of birds in Catalonia. Founded in 1975 as Grup Català d'Anellament, ICO has specialized in the development and coordination of large scale monitoring schemmes requiring the contribution of many ornithologists. The ICO also organises introductory and advanced courses to several fields in ornithology and runs the Catalan Ringing Schemme.

Scientific bird ringing is one of the most important activities of the ICO. Scientific ringing activities in Catalonia are regulated by the Department of Environment of the Generalitat de Catalunya, who delegates its management and coordination to the ICO. The Catalan Ringing Office is the department of the ICO that integrates all this functions and centralises all the ringing data collected in Catalonia. Each year, more than 60,000 new ringings and retraps are incorporated into our databases.

Land use changes, human disturbances, pollution, climate change… There are many factors transforming our environment and, consequently, affecting bird populations. ICO's monitoring schemmes evaluate population changes and also determine several important demographic parameters. By studying the relationships between those variables and environmental factors, it is likely to identify specific problems and thus developing suitable conservation strategies.

Collaborating with the monitoring programmes

It is not necessary to be an expert ornithologist to volunteer at ICO's monitoring schemmes. Anyone interested in bird observation may find a project adapted to his or her skills.





Advantages for the members

Members of ICO receive free of charge all the publications edited by the association (Revista Catalana d'Ornitologia, Anuari d'Ornitologia de Catalunya, monitoring programmes annual reports, and quarterly publication of l'Abellerol, the membership contact butlletin). Furthermore, members have important discounts in courses and other activities carried out by the association.

New Catalan Breeding Bird Atlas

More than 400 Catalan ornithologists have collaborated in the New Catalan Breeding Bird Altas, one of our most popular projects. Thanks to their contribution, ICO has already determined the detailed distribution of the bird species breeding in our country. More information

Catalan Winter Bird Atlas 2006-2009

This is a project of the Catalan Ornithological Institute aiming to establish the distribution of the bird populations in Catalunya during winter and to evaluate its changes over time. More information

SOCC

SOCC (Seguiment d'Ocells Comuns a Catalunya) is a programme established to determine temporal trends in the abundance of common birds in Catalonia, an essential information to establish the conservation status of bird species. It is a long term monitoring programme in which nearly 200 collaborators carry out line transects four times a year (two of them during the breeding season and the others two in winter).

SYLVIA

The aim of this project is to establish a network of constant effort ringing sites in order to gather information on long term demographic parameters of bird populations in Catalonia. With over ten years of experience, this is one of the most innovating ringing programmes in Europe.

MIGRACIÓ

This programme uses information of several ringing sites to feature phenological patterns and to study ecological requirements of bird species that migrate through Catalonia. It is integrated into several international programmes of bird migration research such as the Piccole Isole or those developed by the European Science Foundation.

Ringing Standards

The ringing standards are a set of methodological protocols that allow the optimization and improvement of ringing data collection. This programme, in close association with our ringing software, should enhance the research-oriented value of the central database of our Ringing Office.

Anuari d'Ornitologia de Catalunya

The Anuari is an annual publication that collects the most interesting ornithological observations done in Catalonia every year. More than 1,600 ornithologists have already contributed to this programme.