Ukrainian Ornithological Society named after KF Kessler

The society was founded by the Ukrainian Soviet zoologist Vladimir Mikhailovich Artobolevsky in 1908 in Kiev as the “K. Kessler Kiev Ornithological Society” ^[1] . He was the chairman of this society for 10 years, edited the publications of the society, popularized biological knowledge. The secretary of the society was Edward (Nikolai) Charlemagne , a student of Artobolevsky, in the future an active researcher of the fauna of Ukraine. The society operated within the framework of the Ukrainian Scientific Society. In March 1914, the society became famous thanks to the exhibition "The Nature Conservancy" ^[2] . In April 1914, the Ornithological Society. Kessler, took part in Kiev in the hunting exhibition and organized a special section on the protection of birds of prey ^[3] . In 1914–1915, the Society conducted special environmental courses for guides on nature excursions, which were organized at the Pedagogical Museum. In the winter of 1915-1916, during the First World War, the museum of the society suffered a great deal because a military hospital was set up in its premises. In 1918, the society ceased its activities in connection with the creation of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences .

In 1984, the activity of the company was resumed and restored. It began to operate under the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR and was based at the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR . Its organizer at that time was Mikhail Voinishchesky - ornithologist, doctor of science, head of the department of fauna and systematics of vertebrates of the Institute of Zoology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. In the future, the society continued to operate and formally exists at the Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine .

The company was registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on June 2, 1994. At that time, the person in charge at the registration from the society - Nikolay Klestov, the president of the society - M. A. Voinstvensky. In 1996, the Society issued a volume of its works entitled “Works of the Ukrainian Ornithological Society. Volume 1. "(Kiev, 1996). In this volume was placed an article on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Mikhail Voinstvensky.

At different times, there were four cells (branches) ^[4] :

• Central, "Ukrainian Ornithological Society named. K. F. Kessler "(in Kiev at the Institute of Zoology, NASU)
• "The North-Eastern Branch of the Ukrainian Ornithological Society named after KF Kessler" (Kharkiv, biological faculty of VN Karazin Kharkiv National University )
• Azov-Black Sea Ornithological Working Group, which is coordinated by the Interdepartmental Azov-Black Sea Ornithological Station ( Melitopol , Melitopol GPU named after B. Khmelnitsky and Institute of Zoology named after I. I. Shmalgauzen)
• in 2004, the western branch of the society was separated into an independent organization, the Western Ukrainian Ornithological Society ^{[5] [6]} , Lviv , PDM).

The last meeting of the society on the basis of the central office took place in 1999, when Valentina Serebryakova (President) and Gleb Gavris (Secretary) were elected as the head of the company. For 2016, no activity in the Company from the central institutions of the Academy of Sciences is known, which indicates the actual cessation of the activities of the central cell of the Company after the 1999 meeting. Despite this, many ornithologists and researchers in the information about themselves still note that they have been members of the K. Kessler Ornithological Society since a certain year).

After the extinction of the work of the central branch, the Lviv and Kharkiv cells of the Society operate independently. In particular, in 2009, the northeast (Kharkiv) department of the Society held a conference entitled “Readings in memory of Alexander Krapivna” and issued the corresponding volume of scientific works, which indicated that the publication was prepared by the forces of this society ^[7] .

• Onoprienko, V.L., Shcherban, T.O. Dzherela from the History of the Ukrainian Science Comradeship in Kiev. - Kyiv: Subsidiary enterprise “Inform. -Analit. Agency ”, 2008. - 352 p. - ISBN 978-966-2142-47-1 .
• Mazurmovich, B. M. Rozvitok zoology in Ukraine. - Kiev: View of Kievsky University, 1972. - 229 p.
• Institute of Zoology І. І. Schmalhausen. 75 rokiv / Ed. G.A. Gorodiskoyi, N.S. Novichenko. - Kiev, 2005. - 104 p.
• Melnichuk V., Klestov N. Mikhail Anatolevich Voinstvensky (on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of his birth) // Pratsi Ukrainian Ornitologicheskoy comradeship. - K., 1996. - T. 1. - P. 1—2.
• Onoprienko V., Rerent O., Scherban T. Ukraynske Naukov comrade: 1907-1921. - K., 1998. - p. 242.