Alfred Schifferli (20 January 1912 - 19 March 2007 ) was a Swiss ornithologist who established

bird ringing Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...

in Switzerland at the Schweizerische Vogelwarte Sempach (Swiss Bird Observatory at Sempach) which was begun by his namesake father and published the first breeding bird atlas of Switzerland in 1980. He also founded the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature (now known as Pro Natura). Fredi as he was known was the first of four children of Alfred Schifferli (1879-1934) and Else Schifferli-Rosli. Even as a child he took an interest in nature, his father having been one of the pioneer ornithologists of Switzerland. He later became a bird ringer at Lake Sempach. As a student he met Ernst Lang, director of

Basel Zoo Zoo Basel is a non-profit zoo in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Its official name is ''Zoologischer Garten Basel'' — or in English: Basel Zoological Garden. Basel residents affectionately call it ''Zolli''.

with whom he maintained a long-term association. He studied business at Neuchatel and spent some time in London where he made contacts with English ornithologists. In 1934 his father died and he decided to study zoology at the University of Basel. He studied under

Rudolf Geigy Rudolf Geigy (20 December 1902 – 8 March 1995) was a Swiss biologist and a professor of embryology and genetics at the University of Basel. He established the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and studied tropical diseases. Life and c ...

and

Adolf Portmann Adolf Portmann (27 May 1897 – 28 June 1982) was a Swiss zoologist. Born in Basel, Switzerland, he studied zoology at the University of Basel and worked later in Geneva, Munich, Paris and Berlin, but mainly in marine biology laboratories in Fr ...

from 1939 to 1944. In 1944 he married Margrit Amrein and they had four children of whom Luc would continue in the field of ornithology. He also established contacts with Emil Weitnauer and

David Lack David Lambert Lack FRS (16 July 1910 – 12 March 1973) was a British evolutionary biologist who made contributions to ornithology, ecology, and ethology. His 1947 book, ''Darwin's Finches'', on the finches of the Galapagos Islands was a landm ...

. He produced an atlas of the breeding birds of Switzerland which was published in 1980. In order to produce the book they maintained about 23000 cards on nest records and collected data from 4000 questionnaires. As part of Swiss foreign policy, he was sent to India in 1959 to help train the Indian ornithologist

Salim Ali Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali (12 November 1896 – 20 June 1987) was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Sometimes referred to as the "''Birdman of India''", Salim Ali was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across Indi ...

. He also trained Italian ornithologists at

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...

. In the 1950s he also worked with Ernst Sutter on using radar to track bird migration over the alps. In the 1950s and 1960s he examined the damage to

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

by beetles and the impact on birds. Schifferli also took part in the Planning Commission of the City of Sempach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schifferli, Alfred Swiss ornithologists 1912 births 2007 deaths