Radolfzell Bird Observatory

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Moated Castle Möggingen

The ornithological station in Radolfzell was an ornithological station of the Max Planck Society in Radolfzell - Möggingen . It was set up in Möggingen moated castle in 1946 and was the successor to the Rossitten ornithological station in East Prussia, which was disbanded due to the war . In 1959 the Max Planck Society took over the sponsorship. The ornithological station also included an observation post in the Schopflen castle ruins near the Reichenau island in Lake Constance . Since May 2019 the Radolfzell site has been part of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior , based in Constance . Since then, the name ornithological station has only been used as an epithet for the animal marking center (formerly: "ringing center"). The Center for Animal marking is the ringing Mettnau assigned.

The Radolfzell ornithological station was not connected to the South German ornithological station, which was privately operated from 1928 to 1937 and housed in the Scheffelschlösschen on the Mettnau peninsula .

history

When the ornithological station Rossitten of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, founded in 1901, had to close in World War II, its director Ernst Schüz evacuated the facility. After the war, he brought together the holdings and collections that were scattered in many places in Möggingen Castle. He was supported by the castle owner at the time, Nikolaus von Bodman , who, as an ornithologist , had headed the Baden branch ringing station assigned to Rossitten. Schüz became director of the State Museum for Natural History in Stuttgart , which is why Rudolf Kuhk coordinated the work on site. In 1959 Schüz retired, the ornithological station was taken over by the Max Planck Society (as the successor to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society), thereby recognizing the continuity with Rossitten. It became part of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology , headed by Gustav Kramer from the beginning of April 1959 , who, however , had a fatal accident less than three weeks later while attempting to take young rock pigeons from their nests. The most prominent director of the institute and the associated ornithological station was Konrad Lorenz until 1967, followed by Jürgen Aschoff and Wolfgang Wickler .

From 1994 onwards, the Radolfzell Ornithological Institute collaborated with the Rybachy Biological Station, the Russian successor to the Rossitten Ornithological Institute , as part of the ESF program for research into bird migration. In 2011, the Radolfzell Vogelwarte left the Möggingen moated castle and moved into a new building nearby. To improve public relations, a media center was set up in the castle's former chicken coop, which shows visitors films and slide shows on bird research.

In 1998, the ornithological station and the department of Eberhard Gwinner (Biological Rhythms and Behavior) based in Andechs were separated from the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology, as this was to be dissolved in 1999 - after Wolfgang Wickler's retirement. Both were incorporated into the newly created, independent Research Center for Ornithology of the Max Planck Society , which was renamed the Max Planck Research Center for Ornithology in 2001 . Peter Berthold was appointed local director of the ornithological station . In 2004 the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology was founded, into which both facilities were incorporated, with the ornithological station - under the direction of Wolfgang Fiedler - as a branch of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. After Martin Wikelski was appointed director of this institute at the end of 2007 , the staff and equipment of the ornithological station were integrated into his department for animal migration and immunecology in Radolfzell from January 2008; since then the name ornithological station was no longer an official part of the institute's name. Until April 2019, the Radolfzell site of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology was still described on its website as a “sub-institute 'Radolfzell Vogelwarte'”, where “research is carried out on bird migration and other animal migrations”. After additional working groups were set up in the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology over the years and looked at birds as model organisms and the like. a. fish, turtles, locusts, spiders, fruit bats and baboons arrived, the Max Planck Society decided in 2018 to reorganize and adopt a more appropriate name: Since May 2019, the Radolfzell site has been part of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology , which has its headquarters in Constance .

Furthermore, the center for animal marking (formerly: "ringing center") is located in Radolfzell . a. continues to take care of the bird ringing in southern Germany and Berlin. Whenever a wild bird in Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria or Berlin is provided with a marking ring for a project of any institution, this is done with rings from Radolfzell on which, in addition to a letter / number code, either "Radolfzell Germania" or in the case of larger rings, it occasionally also says “Vogelwarte Radolfzell Germania”. Since June 2019, the Animal Marking Center has officially been known as the Radolfzell Vogelwarte.

literature

  • Eberhard Gwinner , Wolfgang Wickler : Radolfzell Vogelwarte . Max Planck Society - reports and communications, 6/87, Max Planck Society Munich, ISSN  0341-7778
  • Vogelwarte Rossitten or Radolfzell of the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Society , in: Eckart Henning , Marion Kazemi : Handbook on the history of the institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Society for the Promotion of Science 1911–2011 - data and sources , Berlin 2016, 2 volumes, volume 2: Institutes and research centers MZ online, PDF 75 MB pages 1646–1654 (Chronology of the ornithological station).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior. On: mpg.de , last viewed on November 12, 2019.
  2. Wolfgang Fiedler: The "Mettnau" ringing station of the Radolfzell ornithological station. In: Annual report Verein für Naturkunde Mannheim e. V. Heft 8, vol. 2005, pp. 161-163.
  3. ^ Martin Ebner : Vogelforschung in Rybatschij: Passport control for chaffinches. In: the daily newspaper. November 8, 1997, accessed November 26, 2014 .
  4. Hennhouse . Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell site.
  5. The presentation of the history from 1998 to 2008 follows: Eckart Henning , Marion Kazemi : Handbook on the history of the institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science 1911–2011 - data and sources , Berlin 2016, 2 volumes, volume 2: Institutes and research centers MZ online, PDF 75 MB
  6. Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell site ( Memento from April 20, 2019 in the Internet Archive ) Self-presentation by the end of April 2019 on the server of the Max Planck Society.
  7. Central for animal markings. On: orn.mpg.de , last viewed on November 14, 2019.

Coordinates: 47 ° 45 ′ 58 "  N , 8 ° 59 ′ 47"  E