Coloured ring on the leg, number clearly legible: if you have recovered a farm-reared bird in Seine-Saint-Denis, here is where to report it and what happens to the information. Reports are useful to the ACCAs (approved communal hunting associations) and federations that organise releases; the public only ever sees totals per department. On the administrative map, department 93 belongs to the Île-de-France region; its prefecture is Bobigny.
Who validates recoveries in Seine-Saint-Denis?
The hunters' federation responsible for Seine-Saint-Denis is not among the federations registered on RingFollow. A ring found in Seine-Saint-Denis 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 Seine-Saint-Denis.
Reporting a ring found in Seine-Saint-Denis
- Start with a sharp photo of the ring: the number is read automatically, and you check it.
- Say where the bird was taken: the municipality is used for validation and never appears in public.
- If the bird carries a wing tag rather than a leg ring, say so at the same step, together with the species.
- Send the report; name, phone and e-mail are optional, but an e-mail address gets you an acknowledgement.
Across the borders
Five departments border it: Seine-et-Marne to the south-east, Val-de-Marne to the south, Hauts-de-Seine to the south-west, Paris to the south-west and Val-d'Oise to the north-west. All its neighbours belong, like the department itself, to the Île-de-France region. Among its neighbours, the share of artificial surfaces ranges from 11% (Seine-et-Marne) to 98% (Paris), against 94% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). The nearest department whose federation tracks its rings on RingFollow is Ain, about 380 km to the south-east as the crow flies between department centres.
One ring, one data point
Every recovery reported gives a date, a distance and a species. Added together, they give an operation's recovery rate and how far the birds disperse after release: enough to adjust future releases in Seine-Saint-Denis.
What the rings say in Seine-Saint-Denis
- The count of validated recoveries in Seine-Saint-Denis still stands at zero.
- The validation queue for Seine-Saint-Denis 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.
What next?
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. If no release matches, the report is kept under department 93 and stays out of the public totals. The public only sees totals per department; points on the national map are rounded to about 1 km.
Key facts about Seine-Saint-Denis
Land cover in 2018 (CORINE Land Cover): artificial surfaces lead with 94%, followed by agricultural areas (3%). The rest is shared between forests and semi-natural areas (2%) and water bodies (1%). INSEE counts 39 municipalities and 1,704,316 inhabitants (2022 population count) over about 237 km². With the share of agricultural areas at 3%, the department is in the bottom five of the 96 departments of metropolitan France. Its arrondissements are administered from Bobigny (prefecture), Le Raincy and Saint-Denis.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Further reading
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.
The regional picture
The other departments of the region are Yvelines, Val-de-Marne, Hauts-de-Seine, Essonne, Val-d'Oise, Paris and Seine-et-Marne. None of the eight departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the regional overview).
Your questions about Seine-Saint-Denis
How do I recognise a Gibis ring found in Seine-Saint-Denis?
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.
Can I report a ring without a mobile signal in Seine-Saint-Denis?
Yes. The form keeps the report on the phone and sends it as soon as coverage returns, wherever you are in Seine-Saint-Denis.
How long is a report from Seine-Saint-Denis 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.
Does GIBIS validate reports from Seine-Saint-Denis?
No, never. Recoveries are validated by the federation of the department where the bird was released, if it is registered on RingFollow.
Why are there no statistics for Seine-Saint-Denis?
A department's statistics are only published if its federation tracks its rings on RingFollow and at least 3 releases are recorded there. The hunters' federation responsible for Seine-Saint-Denis does not use RingFollow at present.
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.
Few figures for Seine-Saint-Denis so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).