This page is for anyone who hunts in Landes and finds a ring on a pheasant or partridge: where to report it, who validates it, and what is known about the department. RingFollow never publishes the name of a hunter, an ACCA (approved communal hunting association) or a municipality, nor any count below 3. On the administrative map, department 40 belongs to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region; its prefecture is Mont-de-Marsan.
The federation and RingFollow
The Landes hunters' federation (FDC 40) is not among the federations registered on RingFollow. A ring found in Landes can still be reported: the report is recorded, and it will be validated by a federation, never by GIBIS. 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 Landes.
Found a ring: what to do
- Open bagues.gibis.fr on your phone and photograph the ring close up, in good light.
- Enter the municipality, Mont-de-Marsan or any other in the department; no municipality is ever shown publicly.
- Pick the species from the list (pheasant, hare, grey partridge 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.
Around Landes
Four departments border it: Gironde to the north, Gers to the east, Pyrénées-Atlantiques to the south and Lot-et-Garonne to the north-east. Beyond the regional boundary lies the region of Occitania. Among its neighbours, the share of forests and semi-natural areas ranges from 9% (Gers) to 51% (Gironde), against 64% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Haute-Loire, about 385 km to the east (centre to centre).
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 Landes as elsewhere. For an example, see the review of the 2025 pheasant-poult operation (Infochasse mag' no. 72, in French).
What next?
The report is recorded as soon as it arrives, with the photo and the municipality given. Next comes the matching: does the ring belong to a recorded release? If so, and if that department's federation is registered, it reviews the recovery. If no release matches, the report is kept under department 40 and stays out of the public totals. No hunter, ACCA or municipality is ever named: only totals per department and points rounded to about 1 km.
Key facts about Landes
According to CORINE Land Cover, forests and semi-natural areas covered 64% of the department in 2018, agricultural areas 31%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (4%) and water bodies (1%). INSEE counts 327 municipalities and 433,570 inhabitants (2022 population count) over about 9,360 km². At 31%, the share of agricultural areas here is the lowest among the department and its four neighbours. Its arrondissements are administered from Mont-de-Marsan (prefecture) and Dax.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
What the rings say in Landes
- The count of validated recoveries in Landes still stands at zero.
- The validation queue for Landes is empty.
- For comparison, all of France: 3,592 ringed birds in 85 releases and 16 validated recoveries (5 participating federations); details on the Statistics page.
Within the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region
The other departments of the region are Charente, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Deux-Sèvres, Creuse, Gironde, Vienne, Corrèze, Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne, Charente-Maritime and Haute-Vienne. None of the 12 departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the list by region). At 64%, the share of forests and semi-natural areas here is the highest among the 12 departments of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
Breeding and restocking
Species, delivery and release planning are a matter for the breeder: see game birds for restocking and red-legged and grey partridges on gibis.fr.
Your questions about Landes
Does GIBIS validate reports from Landes?
No, never. Recoveries are validated by the federation of the department where the bird was released, if it is registered on RingFollow.
Do I have to give my name to report a ring in Landes?
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.
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its direct neighbours. The nearest registered federation is in Haute-Loire, about 385 km away between department centres.
How do I report a ringed partridge taken in Landes?
Just as for a pheasant: photo of the ring, number checked, species “red-legged partridge” or “grey partridge”, and the municipality. Nothing differs in Landes.
What if the ring number is illegible?
Take several well-lit photos from different angles, then correct the suggested number if needed. The photos stay attached to the report for the validating federation.
Registering a federation
The situation of every federation is on the Federations page. A federation that would like to track its recoveries can write to gibis@gibis.fr.
To get an idea of a department page with its statistics, see the sample page (simulated data).