A ringed partridge or pheasant recovered in Drôme only tells its story if the ring number is reported, and that takes a minute. RingFollow never publishes the name of a hunter, an ACCA (approved communal hunting association) or a municipality, nor any count below 3. Part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which has 12 departments, the department is administered from Valence.
Who validates recoveries in Drôme?
The Drôme hunters' federation (FDC 26) does not use RingFollow at present. Nothing changes for the hunter: the report is made the same way, and federations, not GIBIS, validate recoveries. If the bird comes from a release in a department whose federation is registered, that federation validates the recovery; otherwise the report stays on file for Drôme.
From photo to report
- Open bagues.gibis.fr on your phone and photograph the ring close up, in good light.
- Choose the municipality where the bird was taken, from the 362 in Drôme: it locates the recovery but is never published.
- Pick the species from the list (grey partridge, pheasant, hare and red-legged partridge); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send: with no signal, the report goes out on its own as soon as coverage returns.
Across the borders
Five departments border it: Isère to the north-east, Vaucluse to the south, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence to the south-east, Hautes-Alpes to the east and Ardèche to the west. Beyond the regional boundary lies the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Among its neighbours, the share of forests and semi-natural areas ranges from 39% (Vaucluse) to 83% (Hautes-Alpes), against 55% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). One neighbour already tracks its rings on RingFollow: Isère.
Recoveries and reports in Drôme
- So far, RingFollow has no validated recovery taken in Drôme.
- The validation queue for Drôme is empty.
- Nationwide, RingFollow records 85 ringed releases (3,592 birds) and 16 validated recoveries, across 5 participating federations.
The breeding side: gibis.fr
RingFollow tracks rings; breeding, species and restocking are covered on gibis.fr: game birds for restocking and red-legged and grey partridges.
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and RingFollow
Besides Drôme, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region comprises Loire, Isère, Cantal, Haute-Savoie, Ain, Savoie, Ardèche, Rhône, Puy-de-Dôme, Allier and Haute-Loire. Three of the 12 departments in the region have their federation on RingFollow: Ain, Isère and Haute-Loire (see the list by region).
What a reported ring is for
The recovery rate is the number of validated rings divided by the number of birds released. It only exists if hunters report, in Drôme as elsewhere. For an example, see the review of the 2025 pheasant-poult operation (Infochasse mag' no. 72, in French).
Drôme in figures
According to CORINE Land Cover, forests and semi-natural areas covered 55% of the department in 2018, agricultural areas 40%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (4%) and water bodies (1%). About 6,560 km², 362 municipalities and 524,207 inhabitants in 2022: those are the orders of magnitude. Its arrondissements are administered from Valence (prefecture), Die and Nyons.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
From report to validation
The report is recorded as soon as it arrives, with the photo and the municipality given. The ring number is then matched against known releases; if one took place in a department whose federation is registered, that federation validates the recovery. Without a match, the report stays on file for Drôme, unpublished, until a federation can validate it. No hunter, ACCA or municipality is ever named: only totals per department and points rounded to about 1 km.
Game-bird rings: common questions
Who validates a recovery reported in Drôme?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Drôme hunters' federation (FDC 26) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
Do I have to give my name to report a ring in Drôme?
No. Name, phone and e-mail are optional; an e-mail address only gets you an acknowledgement. Only the validating federation sees what you leave.
How do I report a ringed partridge taken in Drôme?
Just as for a pheasant: photo of the ring, number checked, species “red-legged partridge” or “grey partridge”, and the municipality. Nothing differs in Drôme.
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
Isère. Each has its own page on this site.
How do I recognise a Gibis ring found in Drôme?
A coloured, numbered leg ring, or a numbered coloured plastic wing tag, with no address. A ring engraved with an address belongs to another scheme: the guide explains where to report it.
For federations
Hunter or ACCA official in Drôme? You can raise it with your federation. All federations and their situation: Federations.
To get an idea of a department page with its statistics, see the sample page (simulated data).