Birds breeding in the northern latitudes across Russia include several biogeographic populations of species that migrate to different parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Americas across several different flyways, many of which overlap in their breeding, moulting and staging areas. Development of regionally coordinated marking schemes for the Eurasian-African region are of paramount importance to prevent duplication of schemes and loss of important information. To date, there is no global register or system of colour marking of waterbirds, although there are well coordinated schemes for Eurasia/Africa through EURING and AFRING and a range of schemes within the Americas. In the Asia-Pacific region, colour coordinated schemes are limited to few species/species groups in some flyways. 

With the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 across the region, there has been concern that migratory species may also play a role in the spread of the virus. As a result, there is growing interest, effort and resources directed at studies of migration routes of migratory species in many countries along these different flyways. It is therefore recognised that development of regionally coordinated schemes for colour marking of waterbirds in the Asia-Pacific region that link with existing programmes in other flyways is a top priority. Additionally, colour marking is widely used to undertake research into location-specific aspects of the breeding biology of birds where a number of birds may be marked with a large combination of colours to aid individual bird recognition. There is a high chance that such schemes may conflict with large scale schemes used to study migratory waterbirds, greater communication between people is required.

A successful scheme for colour flagging of migratory shorebirds has been developed by the governments of Australia, Japan and China with support of Wetlands International. This original protocol has now being superceeded with regular updates. We encourage interested groups to come forward to lead development of cooordinated flyway-wide marking schemes for different migratory waterbirds.

As a first step to encouraging greater cooperation and improved reporting, Wetlands International has developed a website to promote sharing of information on colour marking and satellite tracking of waterbirds, with funding support from the GAINS programme. Information is presented in six sections:

- Background on migration tools and studies
- Colour marking of waterbird groups/species of Eurasia/Pacific
- Satellite tracking programmes of waterbird groups/species of Eurasia/Pacific
- Colour marking and satellite tracking schemes outside the Asia-Pacific
- Contact details for waterbird banding/ringing schemes and key contacts in the Asia-Pacific
- Asia-Pacific Working Group on Migratory Waterbirds and Avian Influenza

The study of waterbirds is in a very dynamic phase and it is likely that new schemes will be constantly developed in different countries. It is very important that any group planning to undertake any colour marking work of waterbirds communicate it well in advance to others to ensure that their schemes will not conflict with others in the region and across in the other flyways. We are most willing to facilitate information exchange by posting information on this website and encourage you to contact Taej Mundkur, Wetlands International, at the earliest.