A ringed partridge or pheasant recovered in Pyrénées-Orientales only tells its story if the ring number is reported, and that takes a minute. The page is also meant for the ACCAs, France's approved communal hunting associations, and for the Pyrénées-Orientales hunters' federation (FDC 66): it shows what is published and what never is. Part of the Occitania region, which has 13 departments, the department is administered from Perpignan.
Ring tracking in Pyrénées-Orientales
The Pyrénées-Orientales hunters' federation (FDC 66) is not among the federations registered on RingFollow. 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 Pyrénées-Orientales.
Reporting a ring found in Pyrénées-Orientales
- Photograph the ring, on the leg or once removed; if the number runs all the way round, take several shots.
- Say where the bird was taken: the municipality is used for validation and never appears in public.
- Pick the species from the list (hare, red-legged partridge, pheasant and grey partridge); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send: with no signal, the report goes out on its own as soon as coverage returns.
The department at a glance
According to CORINE Land Cover, forests and semi-natural areas covered 66% of the department in 2018, agricultural areas 26%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (6%) and water bodies (1%). About 4,140 km², 226 municipalities and 496,855 inhabitants in 2022: those are the orders of magnitude. The share of agricultural areas (26%) is lower here than in any of its two neighbours. Besides Perpignan, the prefecture, the department has two sub-prefectures: Céret and Prades.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
What happens to the report
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 Without a match, the report stays on file for Pyrénées-Orientales, unpublished, until a federation can validate it. The public only sees totals per department; points on the national map are rounded to about 1 km.
Why report a recovery
The recovery rate is the number of validated rings divided by the number of birds released. It only exists if hunters report, in Pyrénées-Orientales as elsewhere. For an example, see the review of the 2025 pheasant-poult operation (Infochasse mag' no. 72, in French).
Across the borders
Its neighbours are Aude to the north and Ariège to the north-west. All its neighbours belong, like the department itself, to the Occitania region. Among its neighbours, the share of forests and semi-natural areas ranges from 48% (Aude) to 67% (Ariège), against 66% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). The nearest department whose federation tracks its rings on RingFollow is Haute-Loire, about 300 km to the north as the crow flies between department centres. Next comes Isère (about 385 km).
Recoveries and reports in Pyrénées-Orientales
- The count of validated recoveries in Pyrénées-Orientales still stands at zero.
- The validation queue for Pyrénées-Orientales 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.
The regional picture
The other departments of the region are Lot, Gers, Hautes-Pyrénées, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne, Gard, Lozère, Ariège, Aude, Aveyron and Hérault. None of the 13 departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the list by region).
The breeding side: gibis.fr
The ringed birds tracked here come from the GIBIS game farm in Chatte (Isère). For the pheasant strain, see PUR CHASSE® pheasants; for restocking in general, restocking game birds.
Game-bird rings: common questions
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its direct neighbours. The nearest registered federation is in Haute-Loire, about 300 km away between department centres.
Does GIBIS validate reports from Pyrénées-Orientales?
No, never. Recoveries are validated by the federation of the department where the bird was released, if it is registered on RingFollow.
How do I report a ringed partridge taken in Pyrénées-Orientales?
Just as for a pheasant: photo of the ring, number checked, species “red-legged partridge” or “grey partridge”, and the municipality. Nothing differs in Pyrénées-Orientales.
How long is a report from Pyrénées-Orientales kept?
Five hunting seasons, the duration of the restocking study. After that it is kept only in anonymised form, without contact details or licence number.
How do I recognise a Gibis ring found in Pyrénées-Orientales?
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.
A federation that would like to track its rings
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).