Randecker Maar Research Station

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The Randecker Maar Research Station (German: Forschungsstation Randecker Maar e.V.) is a bird observatory which was founded in 1969 by the ornithologist Wulf Gatter [de]. It studies birds, insects and other migratory creatures which tend to concentrate in the pass through the crater of the Randecker Maar as they fly over the Swabian Jura.

The research station is located at an elevation of 773 meters above sea level on the northern precipice of the Swabian Jura of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Insects and birds cross this mountain range on their southward autumn migration in great numbers. At the site of an extinct volcano, the Randecker Maar, migration of insects and birds is concentrated both horizontally and vertically. This funnel effect is due to the erosion that has cut open the volcanic crater on its northern edge. Both insects and birds prefer this gap to cross the elevated ground.^[1]