Operation Baltic (Akcja Bałtycka in Polish) is a research program dating back to 1960, which has relied on citizen scientist volunteers for more than 55 years. Volunteers learn advanced skills in and acquire experience in leading-edge fieldwork. We provide close contact with birds, opportunities to improve your identification skills and broaden your knowledge of birds. You will meet fascinating people from around the world with similar interests and will gain invaluable experience close to nature at the beautiful Baltic Sea coast.
Operation Baltic volunteers help with fieldwork during the spring and autumn migration seasons at three ringing stations:
Bukowo-Kopań (BK) near Dąbkowice: 25 March – 20 May, 1 August – 5 November,
Hel (HL) near Kuźnica: 25 March – 15 May,
Mierzeja Wiślana (MW) near Siekierki: 20 August – 1 November.
The locations of these stations can be found at http://akbalt.ug.edu.pl/stacje
Teams at the ringing stations live and work in tents. All the camping facilities (tents, mattresses, blankets, cutlery and crockery) are provided. Volunteers need bring only their own sleeping bag and pillow, a head torch, warm clothes and any personal medications. We ask volunteers for €1 a day as a contribution towards the common food. The whole team prepares and shares all meals. There is temporary access to electricity at each station, allowing you to charge phones and spend a few hours a day on a laptop. Ablution facilities are available at nearby campsites or villages. Volunteers main duties are to service the mist nets and extract birds, to pair with an experienced ringer and record morphometric data, to help conduct additional research projects and to help maintaing the camps. The station’s staff and most of the ringers speak English.
To apply for voluntary work at Operation Baltic and learn more about it please contact us at: akbalt@ug.edu.pl