First Ringing Station in Cyprus, Karpaz Bird Ringing Station: Results of Autumn Migration Season in 2024.

Cyprus is one of the important islands in western palearctic bird migration routes, especially in the eastern Mediterranean route. In contrast to Western Europe, research on bird migrations in Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean remains limited. Due to its geographical location and surface area, Cyprus hosts millions of migratory birds in the Eastern Mediterranean region during Eastern European bird migrations. The Karpaz Bird Ringing Station established in Northern Cyprus has the capacity to fill many gaps. Regular ringing activities started in the autumn season of 2024 at the station, a total of 157 meters of mist nets were used and 1.436 birds from 39 species were ringed. The most frequently ringed species were the Eurasian Blackcap, Common Chiffchaff, European Robin, Sardinian Warbler, Willow Warbler, Song Thrush, Stonechat, Spanish Sparrow, Black Redstart and Common Redstart. According to the results, the long-distance migrants such as Willow Warbler, Common Redstart and Blackcap individuals have more fat scores. These preliminary data reveal the importance of the role of Cyprus in bird migrations. Although there is only one control bird (Hungarian control), increasing the recapture data (especially between Israel, Türkiye and Cyprus) will greatly contribute to the determination of migration dynamics (migration phenology, stopover ecology, migration routes, individual physiological changes and more) in the Eastern Mediterranean part of bird migrations under the western Palearctic migration route.