Due to decades-long practical conservation work, the population of birds such as the osprey, white-tailed eagle, golden eagle and peregrine falcon have increased.
In Finland, every year, about 300 bird ringers and many bird enthusiasts participate in the fieldwork related to birds of prey. The Finnish Museum of Natural History is responsible for the monitoring of birds of prey and works in cooperation with the Finnish Osprey Foundation.
They carry out activities such as annual mapping out of the nesting population, bird ringing, recording information related to nesting trees and nesting locations, detecting environmental toxins and using satellite transmitters to monitor the birds’ movements.
The national osprey project is an impressive example of work carried out by bird ringers, for the benefit of Finnish nature. In 1971, bird ringers started special monitoring of the ospreys and since then almost all reported osprey nests have been checked every year.
In the projects early days, it was realised that the lack of suitable nesting trees in peaceful environments was a threat to the Finnish osprey population. Nowadays, over a half of all osprey pairs nest in artificial nests made by bird enthusiasts.