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Anniversary 2024

100 years of the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Sempach

The Swiss Ornithological Institute was founded on 6 April 1924 with the inauguration of an observation tower near Sempach. The powerful vision of our predecessors has grown into a foundation that makes a key contribution to ornithology and bird conservation in our country. The fundamental approach that was originally adopted has remained the Institute’s guiding principle: to develop sound expertise on birds and, based on this, to promote the wellbeing of birds and their habitats.

In our anniversary year, we would like to thank all those who make the work of the Swiss Ornithological Institute possible, in particular our loyal patrons, our dedicated volunteers and our partners.

We would also like to create lasting value in our anniversary year: new habitats for endangered birds.

Open days

Save the date: on 7 and 8 September we’ll be opening our doors in Sempach

Have you always wanted to take a look behind the scenes at the SOI? On the second weekend in September you will have the opportunity to do so at the visitor centre and at the Institute building in Sempach. Here you can gain an impression of what SOI employees are currently working on, what questions researchers are pursuing, what projects are being funded to help birdlife and nature, and how information is disseminated on these subjects. Drop by and pay us a visit!

From the archive

Impressions from 100 years of the Swiss Ornithological Institute

What were things really like back then? The festive gathering at the opening of the observation hut on Lake Sempach in 1924, the use of radar technology at the end of the 1960s, celebrity guests at the visitor centre, and the use of the latest transmitter technology to track golden eagles: a selection of photos from our chronicle offers insights into our eventful history.

At the opening ceremony of the Swiss Ornithological Institute on 6 April 1924, the festive crowd poses in front of the Institute’s observation hut on the southern shore of Lake Sempach. On the far left, Alfred Schifferli sen. and his wife with their two daughters.

SOI founder Alfred Schifferli (sen.) with a tame, hand-reared Eurasian curlew from Wauwilermoos. He used the little free time he had to pursue his hobby – ornithology. In 1902, at the age of 23, he began publishing the bird observations from Lake Sempach.

In spring 1946, the SOI moved to the town hall: here the rooms on the first floor had been specially converted for this purpose, having originally housed an open pergola, the Tuchlaube.

Bird care in around 1950 at Sempach town hall: the offices of the SOI were located here from 1946 to 1955. A nesting box and a stuffed starling in today’s town hall museum are reminders of this period.

Urs Glutz von Blotzheim (seated) took over as editor of the Brutvogelbuch at the end of 1957 aged 25. He mainly worked on the book in his spare time.

In 1959, Indian ornithologist Salim Ali, seen here weighing a bird, invited Alfred Schifferli jun. to train his employees in the catching and ringing of small birds.

Computers were introduced at the SOI in the early 1980s. This workstation was in an attic room that had been converted into an office in 1985.

Numerous SOI staff assembled on the steps leading from the foyer to the garden at the summer party on 1 July 1994, celebrating the inauguration of the lakeside extension.

Radar technology is used in birdlife research, too. Bruno Bruderer, seen here in 1969 at the Super Fledermaus target tracking radar, used radar to study bird migration over the Alps, the Mediterranean, the desert in the Middle East and the Sahara.

Bird ringing has been used as a method of migration research since the beginning of the 20th century. Different sizes of ring are used depending on the bird species.

Originally set up in 1958, the SOI’s hut at Col de Bretolet was replaced with a new one in September 1988. The SOI has been researching the autumn migration of birds across the Alps for 70 years.

Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard at the inauguration of the visitor centre in May 2015. The exhibition Überleben (“Survival”) guides visitors through various aspects of birdlife, from the egg stage and nutrition through to dangers, plumage and migration.

Markus Jenny explains the species recovery concept in Klettgau to senior representatives of a large retail group and the agricultural association IP-Suisse in the early morning of July 2009, pointing out the various typical farmland bird species and plants.

A young golden eagle is measured by David Jenny and Julia Hatzl and fitted with a transmitter. This makes it possible to track the bird’s roaming patterns in the first years of its life and also identify where it settles.

The current directorate of the Swiss Ornithological Institute since 1 July 2022, from left: Gilberto Pasinelli (Director of Science), Peter Knaus (Director of Conservation), Barbara Trösch (Director of Operations) and Matthias Kestenholz (Chair and Director of Public Relations).

Book

The big anniversary chronicle

The Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Supported by the public, this joint endeavour dedicated to the wellbeing of birds is now more important than ever – in order to understand native birdlife and preserve it in its diversity for future generations.

This chronicle describes what has become of the founders’ original ideas, how the SOI has developed from a one-man operation run by volunteers into a thriving foundation dedicated to ornithology and bird conservation, and what it has achieved in its first hundred years.

NEW

Books

100 Jahre Schweizerische Vogelwarte Sempach

Die Schweizerische Vogelwarte Sempach feiert ihr 100-jähriges Jubiläum.
Die vorliegende Chronik schildert, was aus der Idee der Gründer geworden ist, wie sich die Vogelwarte vom ehrenamtlich geführten Einmannbetrieb zur prosperierenden Stiftung für Vogelkunde und Vogelschutz entwickelt und was sie in den ersten hundert Jahren alles erreicht hat.

CHF 100.00

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