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Article History

Received: 25 March 2018

Accepted: 6 August 2019

First Online: 14 August 2019

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: The catching of birds, usually with mist nets, handling and sampling of semen by cloacal massage, and their immediate release at the site of capture, was carried out in strict adherence to institutional, national and international guidelines and the fundamental principles outlined in the Basel Declaration () for animal research ethics. The sperm sampling procedure is non-invasive (no penetration of membranes) and does therefore not require a special animal research permit in Europe (DIRECTIVE 2010/63/EU in Europe: Chapter I, Article 3.1). The following permits for catching of birds, collection of samples, research ethics and export of samples to NHMO (Norway) were obtained (sorted alphabetically by country):<b>Armenia:</b> collection permit no. 5/22.1/51371 (Ministry of Nature Protection of the Republic of Armenia).<b>Australia:</b> ethics permit no. 2007/037 (Macquarie University Animal Ethics Committee); collection and ethics permit no. 196754 (Department of Environment and Heritage Protection); export permit no. PWS2015-AU-002216 (Department of the Environment).<b>Cameroon:</b> collecting permits no. 2011–000079/, 2012–000075/MINRESI/B00/C00/C10/nye (Ministry of Research and Innovations), export permits no. 2013–1705/, 2014–0104/PRS/MINFOF/SG/DFAP/SDVEF/SC (Ministry of Forest and Fauna).<b>Canada:</b> ethics permits no. Robertson-2005-014-R1 and Robertson-2005-021-R1 (Queen’s University Animal Care Committee); banding permit no. 10302; sampling and export permits no. CA0155 and CA0156 (Canadian Wildlife Service).<b>Czech Republic:</b> ringing permit no. 851 (Bird Ringing Centre, National Museum, Prague), ethics permit no. 041/2007 (Ethical Committee of the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences).<b>India:</b> collecting permits were issued by the Chief Wildlife Wardens of the Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Bengal states. No samples were exported.<b>Nigeria:</b> collecting permits (to Taiwo Omotoriogun) in Okomu National Parks, Benin (The Conservator-General of the Nigeria National Park Service), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan (Dr Asiedu Robert and Deni Bown), in Yankari Game Reserve, Bauchi (Director), and AP Leventis Ornithological Institute (Director). Material transfer agreement on access to genetic resources and sharing of the benefit of its utilization between The Federal Ministry of Environment (Department of Forestry) and Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo, Norway (issued July 2019).<b>Norway:</b> ringing and mist-netting permit no. 159 (Norwegian Environment Agency); semen sampling from passerine birds by cloacal massage is exempt from animal research permits, no. 2014/73371 (National Animal Research Authority of Norway, now Mattilsynet).<b>Portugal</b>: collecting permit no. 01-A/2011/FAU/MAD and export permit no. 01/PNM/2011-FAU MAD (Região Autónoma da Madeira), collecting permit no. 119/2011/DRA (Direção Regional do Ambiente dos Açores), ringing permit no. 152/2011 (Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas).<b>Spain:</b> collecting permits no. 157/2010, 285/2010 and 2013/0470 (Gobierno de Canarias), collecting permits no. 2014–00169 and 2015–00177 (Cabildo de Tenerife), collecting permits no. CO/09/078/2012, CO/09/018/2013, CO/09/033/2014 and CO/09/160/2015 (Consorcio Interautonómico Parque Nacional de los Picos de Europa), ringing permit (José Luis Copete) for 2010 and 2011 (Xunta de Galicia, Conselleria de Medio Ambiente e Ordenacion do Territorio).

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.