A Heligoland trap (or funnel trap) is a large, building-sized, funnel-shaped, rigid structure of wire mesh or netting used to trap birds, so that they can be banded or otherwise studied by

ornithologists __NOTOC__ This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists. A * John Abbot – US * Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US * William Louis Abbott – US * Joseph H. Acklen – US *Humayun Ab ...

. The name is taken from the site of the first such trap, the Heligoland Bird Observatory on the island of

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

, Germany, where it was developed by

Hugo Weigold Max Hugo Weigold (27 May 1886 – 9 July 1973) was a German zoologist and a pioneer bird bander who worked at the Heligoland Bird Observatory, one of the world's first bird-ringing sites. Weigold was born in Dresden. He studied natural sciences ...

who established the observatory and initiated the banding program there. The trap has a series of linked funnels that guides birds or other animals in but makes it hard for them to leave. Funnel traps of smaller size can also be used to trap squirrels and insects.

Rybachy trap

The Rybachy trap is a variation or expansion of the Heligoland trap in that it is a large, passive trap consisting of linked funnels terminating in a small chamber from which the birds are extracted for banding and measuring before release. It differs in being larger – it may have an entrance some 30 m wide by 15 m high – and by having a non-rigid body made of netting rather than wire mesh. It was developed in 1957 by Janis Jakšisat under the leadership of Lev Belopolsky at the Rybachy Biological Station (formerly the

Rossitten Bird Observatory The Rossitten Bird Observatory (''Vogelwarte Rossitten'' in German) was the world's first ornithological observatory. It was sited at Rossitten, East Prussia (now Rybachy, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia), on the Curonian Spit on the south-eastern c ...

) at

Rybachy, Kaliningrad Oblast Rybachy (russian: Рыба́чий, from ''Рыба́к'', "Fisherman", german: Rossitten, pl, Rosity, lt, Rasytė) is a rural settlement in Zelenogradsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Curonian Spit. As of 2010 it has ...

in Russia, on the

Curonian Spit The Curonian (Courish) Spit ( lt, Kuršių nerija; russian: Ку́ршская коса́ (Kurshskaya kosa); german: Kurische Nehrung, ; lv, Kuršu kāpas) is a long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Balti ...

References

External links

Diagram of a Heligoland trap
Ornithological equipment and methods

Trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

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