Birds Directive Key Concepts

An MCP server exposing the EU Birds Directive Art. 7(4) "Key Concepts" data: the periods of reproduction and pre-nuptial migration for each huntable bird species (Annex II of Directive 2009/147/EC) in each Member State.

It lets you check whether a given hunting-season date falls within a protected period (reproduction / pre-nuptial migration) for a given species and country, on the basis of the official EU reference data.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This is a technical support tool. The Key Concepts document provides the best available scientific information but, as the Commission itself states, it is not a legally binding document. Any use in legal proceedings requires the assessment of a qualified lawyer.

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Tools

• kc_list_species — list huntable species available for a Member State (default IT).
• kc_get_species — reproduction and pre-nuptial migration periods (as dates) for a species in a country.
• kc_check_date — given a species, a country and a date (DD/MM), says whether that date falls in a protected period. The key tool for checking hunting-calendar legality.
• kc_get_references — official bibliographic references backing the data for a species.

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Data source and provenance

Official "Key Concepts of Article 7(4) of Directive 2009/147/EC" dataset, published by the European Commission (DG Environment) on the CIRCABC repository.

• Landing page: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-biodiversity/birds-directive/sustainable-hunting-under-birds-directive_en
• CIRCABC group: 3f466d71-92a7-49eb-9c63-6cb0fadf29dc
• "Full database" library: d71c596a-d00c-431a-800e-d8b5024a3156
• File: "The full database with all the data and references used" (MS Access .accdb, ~3.7 MB, version dated 2023-02-28)

Downloaded via the CIRCABC REST endpoint (public / guest access):

https://circabc.europa.eu/rest/download/26e134ef-8180-436c-a473-4335bd6430ef?ticket=

The original .accdb is kept in source/ for reproducibility. Its two tables were exported to CSV (data/) and pre-processed into data/key_concepts.json.

EU public information, reusable under the Commission's reuse policy. Attribution: © European Union, DG Environment.

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Data model

The Access database has two tables, exported to CSV:

Data Main Species — one row per species × Member State. The year is split into 36 decades (3 per month, ~10 days each). Columns MD_1…MD_36 flag the pre-nuptial migration period, RD_1…RD_36 the reproduction period. Plus status booleans (Resident, Migrant: breeding/passage/wintering) and notes.

Data References Species — bibliographic references supporting each datum.

The build script translates the 36-decade flags into readable date ranges and merges everything into a single JSON the server loads in memory.

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Repository layout

birds-directive-key-concepts-mcp/
├── api/mcp.js                    MCP server (Vercel entry point)
├── data/
│   ├── key_concepts.json         generated dataset served by the MCP
│   ├── Data_Main_Species.csv     source CSV
│   └── Data_References_Species.csv
├── source/key_concepts.accdb     original official file (archive)
├── scripts/build_data.mjs        CSV → JSON converter (decades → dates)
├── test_local.mjs                local tool tests (no network)
├── package.json
├── vercel.json
└── README.md

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Build & test locally

node scripts/build_data.mjs   # regenerates data/key_concepts.json from the CSVs
node test_local.mjs           # runs the four tools against the real data

Updating the data

The Key Concepts document is updated rarely (2001, 2009, 2014, current 2023-02-28). To refresh: download the latest .accdb from the CIRCABC library above, export the two tables to CSV into data/, then run node scripts/build_data.mjs.

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License

Code: MIT. Data: © European Union, reused under the Commission's reuse policy.