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The article is dedicated to reviewing the establishment of the core network for ornithological monitoring in the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine from its inception. The relevance of the topic arises from the necessity to restore the documentation of the core network for ornithological monitoring, which was destroyed along with all scientific archives of the Reserve as a result of the Russian occupation and the catastrophic flooding caused by the criminal destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant by occupying forces. Several stages can be distinguished in the development of the core network for ornithological monitoring in the Reserve. The initial stages were characterised by a focus solely on monitoring three types of bird communities: breeding settlements of colonial bird species on islands, in mainland areas of the Reserve, and the wintering bird community in the Tendrivska and Yahorlytska Bays. In the subsequent stage, ornithological monitoring studies expanded to cover all types of bird communities within the Reserve, facilitated by the Reserve’s designation as a biosphere reserve (since 1983). At this stage, in addition to the existing core network for ornithological monitoring for colonial bird species and wintering waterfowl, new core networks were established to monitor bird communities in the mainland areas of the Reserve. In the 1990s, a core network for monitoring non-breeding waterfowl communities in protected water areas was added. Additionally, during this period, the core network for ornithological monitoring was fully documented – all survey sites and routes were passported. In the final stage, which spanned the last two decades, the core networks for various bird communities in the Reserve were significantly improved to enhance their representativeness. The core networks were closely integrated with databases and GIS, which greatly expanded the analytical capabilities for processing the obtained monitoring data. It is expected that the restoration of ornithological monitoring on the current core network after the de-occupation of the Reserve will allow comparisons of the bird communities before and after the occupation, investigate the changes that have occurred, and assess the damage inflicted.