Avian migration

1Department of Pharmacology, Veterinary Physiology and Physiological Chemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, Bulgaria 2Department of Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, Bulgaria 3Department of Internal Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, Bulgaria 4High School of Veterinary Medicine, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria 5Department of Morphology, Animal Physiology and Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Trakia University, Bulgaria

AimMacroecological analyses provide valuable insights into factors that influence how parasites are distributed across space and among hosts. Amid large uncertainties that arise when generalizing from local and regional findings, hierarchical approaches applied to global datasets are required to determine whether drivers of parasite infection patterns vary across scales. We assessed global patterns of haemosporidian infections across a broad diversity of avian host clades and zoogeographical realms to depict hotspots of prevalence and to identify possible underlying drivers.LocationGlobal.Time period1994–2019.Major taxa studiedAvian haemosporidian parasites (genera Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon and Parahaemoproteus).MethodsWe amalgamated infection data from 53,669 individual birds representing 2,445 species world‐wide. Spatio‐phylogenetic hierarchical Bayesian models were built to disentangle potential landscape, climatic and biotic drivers of infection probability while a...

Food availability and acquisition are critical components of a stopover site's suitability, but we know relatively little about how changes in food availability affect the stopover ecology of migrating landbirds. We examined fruit and arthropod availability in three habitats, studied foraging behavior and diet, and investigated use versus availability for passerines migrating through southwestern Idaho in autumn. Hemiptera dominated foliage-dwelling arthropod communities in all three habitats, whereas Hymenoptera were most numerous among ground-dwelling arthropods. Mountain shrubland had relatively high biomass of both ground-dwelling and foliage-dwelling arthropods, whereas conifer forest had high biomass of foliage-dwelling arthropods only and shrub steppe had high biomass of ground-dwelling arthropods only. Species' foraging behavior varied , but most species foraged in mountain shrubland more often than expected by chance. Diets of most species included a high proportion of certain Hemiptera and Hymenoptera with smaller proportions of Coleoptera, Diptera, and Heteroptera; Coleoptera and some Hemiptera were consistently preferred by most species. Importantly, all 19 bird species examined consumed some fruit, and this is the first documentation of frugivory for two warbler species. These data point to the importance of several arthropod taxa, especially the Hemiptera and Hymenoptera, and fruits to landbirds migrating in mountain shrubland in autumn. Finally, we found no effect of annual variation of fruit or arthropod abundance on migrants' energetic condition, suggesting that food was sufficient for mass gain in all years of this study and/or that foraging behavior may be plastic enough to allow birds to gain mass despite annual differences in food availability.

Information on food habits of the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) was compiled from systematic studies and anecdotal reports from Alaska to California. Major differences between the winter and summer diets were apparent, with euphausiids and mysids becoming more dominant during winter and spring. The primary invertebrate prey items were euphausiids, mysids, and amphipods. Small schooling fishes included sand lance, anchovy, herring, osmerids, and seaperch. The fish portion of the diet was most important in the summer and coincided with the nestling and fledgling period. Murrelets are opportunistic feeders, and interannual changes in the marine environment can result in major changes in prey consumption. Site-specific conditions also influence the spectrum and quantity of prey items. More information on food habits south of British Columbia is needed. Studies on the major prey species of the murrelet and relationships between other seabirds and these prey are briefly summarized. Short-term phenomena such as El Niño events would not be expected to adversely affect murrelet populations over the long term. However, cumulative impacts in localized areas, especially in conjunction with El Niño events, could cause population declines and even extirpation.

Reliable population estimates and population trend estimates are key elements in wildlife management, conservation and research planning. They are also important for various legally binding international conventions. One would therefore expect that publications dealing with population estimates and trends would document in detail how such estimates are arrived at. Unfortunately that is often not the case. This detracts from the scientific validity of the estimates as well as their conservation value. A plea is made for good documentation of the process by which population size and trend estimates are determined. A standard for such documentation is proposed. THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIABLE POPULATION ESTIMATES search to conservation", held in Sofia from 11-14 October 2002 and organised by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds and the Waterfowl and Wetlands Trust. We much appreciate comments made by Christoph Z6ckler, Humphrey Sitters, Nick Davidson and three other population estimators. The content of our contribution remains our own responsibility of course.

The growth and digestibility study has been performed in Channa punctata in four experimental conditions with pelleted diets. The formulated diets were prepared with locally available ingredients viz, rice bran, oil cake, silkworm pupae, fish meal, meat meal, blood meal etc following standard methodology. There was an increasing trend of growth parameters such as food conversion ratio and food conversion efficiency as well as digestibility in all experimental groups except those on feed pellets of blood meal as an ingredient. Findings of the present study suggest that cocoon based feed could be used for better growth and feed utilization efficiencies of snakehead Channa punctata.

The study areas including six grasslands that were routinely visited for six month. The observationary records said that total one sixty birds including twenty-three migratory species belonging to forty-five families were sighted in the area. All the grasslands are almost similar texture regarding floral diversity, soil quality, slop-up, downs, and surrounding area so the majority (108) species share all the grasslands. is clear that species diversity index of all the grassland is same except BEG. The grassland facing so many problems like deforestation, over grazing and poaching, so the list of birds looses their perching & feeding ground and migrates from the areas. It was noticed that migratory number including winter migration is greatly affected so there will no surprise if coming year few birds only visited to grassland area. Prior action should be taken to stop anthropogenic activities in the area and scientific study will regularly conducted which helps us to know upgrading ...

Selecting a flagship species is an effective strategy to promote regional conservation efforts. Arjan International Wetland in southern Iran harbors a high diversity of waterbirds, which face multiple threats imposed by humans. This study aims to select a flagship species from three candidate species: Common Crane (Grus grus), Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra), and Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) as part of the efforts to promote future conservation of the Wetland. We based our selection on ten criteria emphasizing the physical features of the animals as well as local knowledge, attitudes, and cultural associations. We used a combination of a literature review and a questionnaire survey to obtain scores and compare them among the candidate species. Ruddy Shelduck emerged with the highest score evaluated. It was distinguished from the other two species by strong local recognition, positive associations with, and cultural relevance to the local communities. The election results demonstrated the potential of Ruddy Shelduck in local conservation efforts. This is the first case in which the Ruddy Shelduck was selected as a flagship species in Iran and globally. The selection process, driven by local insights, is also expected to enhance future conservation actions significantly. Furthermore, this approach may serve as a model for other regions considering similar conservation strategies.

The determination of the impact of the Natural Regeneration Assisted on the avifauna, which is very good indicating of transformation of the landscapes, requires proceeding to its inventory. The present study carried out in the village of Dan Saga in the months from September 2014 and 2015 which a site par excellence of the RNA were for the first time the object of an inventory in order to see the contribution of the Natural Regeneration Assisted on the return of the avifauna. In this direction it was preceded, with an inventory of the avian biodiversity by the combination of the methods of line and not transects. Thus, eight transects were traversed during the two programs of census. It comes out from this study that the village of Dan Saga has a good avian diversity, represented by 29 species of which most frequently observed are pass griseus, Bubalornis albirostris and Petronia dentata. These species set out again in 20 Families. The Kilometric Index of Abundance (KIA) were much ...

These kinds of colour aberrations are originated due to abnormal embryonic development (mutation). In birds, a little work has been done, earlier on the impact of such aberrations on breeding success. Further genetic analysis is suggested for “DNA barcoding method” which can detect such genetic changes in Black-headed Ibis.

There have been an increasing number of observations of itinerancy in migratory songbirds, where individuals move among 2 or more widely separated areas during the “stationary” nonbreeding season. Knowledge of such movements and an understanding of what drives them are important for predicting how migratory populations will respond to environmental change. In this study, we investigated nonbreeding movements of the Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), an aerial insectivore that breeds across North America and spends the nonbreeding season around the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. With year-round tracking data obtained from 133 light-level geolocators deployed at 12 breeding sites ranging from Alaska to Nova Scotia to North Carolina, we show that 44% of individuals made at least one large-scale movement (range: 301–1,744 km) within the nonbreeding range. The frequency of itinerancy decreased with longitude, such that 75% of individuals made a move...

Capsule: Individual Eurasian Teal Anas crecca with white neck-rings have been found in Italy and an extensive museum survey found this plumage character occurring with a low frequency, although no genetic difference was observed with respect to the normal phenotype. Aims: To estimate the relative frequency and distribution of this plumage variation and to provide a first genetic assessment to verify if this character could have a taxonomic basis or if it occurs by chance among populations. Methods: An extensive museum survey was conducted to check for the occurrence of white neckringed Eurasian Teals in preserved specimens from its distributional range. A genetic analysis was conducted at standard mitochondrial loci (D-loop and COI) of ten white neck-ringed Eurasian Teals from Venice lagoon, Italy. Haplotypes were compared with genetic data from Holarctic populations. Results: The museum survey uncovered additional cases of white neck-ringed Eurasian Teals in Italy and Europe. Moreover, this mutation has also been documented for the first time in the North American Green-winged Teal Anas carolinensis. The white neck-ring was found to be variable in size and occurred in both sexes and in different age classes in about 1.5% of examined individuals. The genetic analysis did not show any significant lineage differentiation between them and the normal phenotype, but the Italian samples showed high values of haplotype diversity indicating a key role of northeast Italy in attracting different migratory populations in winter. Conclusions: While the same variation occurs in many other species of the tribe Anatini, none of these cases clearly suggested the occurrence of hybridization, progressive greying, environmental causation or another kind of locally frequent mutation. It is most likely this plumage trait is a form of leucism or the expression of an ancestral phenotype, possibly occurring in different populations within the species' range.

La Asociación Iberoamericana de Filosofía de la Biología (AIFIBI) fue fundada al término de un congreso celebrado en Valencia (España), en noviembre de 2012, con el objetivo de dar cobijo y apoyo a actividades que contribuyan al desarrollo de la investigación, la docencia y la comunicación pública de la Filosofía de la Biología y de las disciplinas afines en el ámbito cultural iberoamericano. Los estudios sociales, históricos y culturales de las ciencias de la vida se incluyen como parte del espacio relevante para la actividad de esta asociación. En esta asociación han confluido investigadores y grupos que previamente habían estado desarrollando trabajos importantes y redes en diferentes polos de Iberoamérica. En Brasil, Colombia, México, España y Argentina de manera más notable. Esfuerzos previos de vinculación y articulación comunitaria, como el del grupo Bogotá, o articulado en torno a la revista Ludus Vitalis, por mencionar sólo dos (sin demérito de otros) vieron fructificar sus...

Foraging animals are often constrained by their limited perception of the distribution of their food resources. Waders are likely to face such constraints when foraging on buried prey in intertidal sediment flats. Here we examined the extent of perceptual limitations of dunlins (Calidris alpina) to find patches experimentally enriched with their preferred prey, the ragworm (Hediste diversicolor). Patches of different sizes and with different prey densities were established in areas used by foraging dunlins to examine the effect of these two variables on the patch detection ability by dunlins. We found that most dunlins did not notice the high ragworm densities while crossing the enriched patches, presumably because they were often using a visual foraging strategy. Birds that detected the enriched patches changed their foraging strategy to feed on the available ragworms and that improved their energy intake rate by 2.9 times. In general, birds detected more easily larger and richer patches, but they seldom detected the smallest patches (0.25 m 2), even if highly enriched. The detection of enriched patches seemed to rely exclusively on tactile search, and it seems likely that a single contact with ragworms induced the increase of tactile attempts resulting in the patch recognition. We demonstrated that waders face perceptual constraints in exploiting buried prey with patchy distributions, particularly when prey are aggregated in very small patches. This foraging constraint may have important energetic consequences at times of food scarcity or high energetic demands, and may help to explain the often reported lack of fine scale correspondence between distribution of foraging waders and that of their invertebrate prey.

Agriculture is one of the primary threats to biodiversity but agricultural land can also provide key resources for many species and, in some parts of the world, agricultural land supports important populations of species of conservation concern. In these cases, it is important to understand species' use of agricultural land before further expansion or intensification of agricultural activities occurs. Agriculture in Iceland is still relatively low in intensity and extent, and internationally important populations of several breeding bird species are abundant in farmed regions. In these high latitude landscapes, agricultural land could provide resources that help to support these species, and the consequences of future agricultural expansion will depend on the nature of these relationships. To address these issues, we conducted surveys of bird abundance at 64 farms in areas of Iceland that vary in underlying soil productivity, and quantified (a) levels of breeding bird use of farmed land managed at three differing intensities, ranging from cultivated fields to semi-natural land and (b) changes in patterns of use throughout the breeding season, for an assemblage of species. Breeding birds use all three land management types in large numbers but, overall, bird abundance is lower in more intensively managed farmland. However, more intensively managed agricultural land supports higher densities of birds than semi-natural habitats in areas with lower underlying productivity. This suggests that in landscapes in which agricultural land does not yet dominate, conservation and commercial production can co-exist, especially in areas of low productivity. Areas like Iceland, in which agricultural land still supports large populations of internationally important species, are rare and this study highlights the need to protect these systems from the agricultural development that has led to widespread biodiversity loss throughout most of the world.

The moult of Barred Warblers Sylvia nisoria was studied during three winter seasons in southeastern Kenya at a southward passage site (Ngulia) and a wintering site (Mtito Andei). Most Barred Warblers migrating through Ngulia in November had yet to commence winter moult. These birds probably moulted subsequently in winter in northern Tanzania. In December, birds were found in heavy moult at Mtito Andei, and some of these birds were known to stay throughout the winter.

SummaryMigratory wader populations face global threats, mainly related to increasing rates of habitat loss and disturbance driven by human activities. To a large extent, the long-term survival of these populations requires the conservation of networks of sites along their migratory flyways. The Tagus estuary, Portugal, is among the most important wetlands for waders in the East Atlantic Flyway. Annual winter wader counts have been carried in this wetland since 1975 and a monthly roost-monitoring programme was implemented in 2007. Wintering populations of three out of the five most abundant species, DunlinCalidris alpina, Grey PloverPluvialis squatarolaand RedshankTringa totanus, showed significant population declines over the past three decades, which are most likely due to the loss and degradation of roost sites as a result of increasing human activity. The situation is unlikely to improve, as a high proportion of the wintering waders use roost sites that are situated in highly urb...

A novel migratory polymorphism evolved within the last 60 years in blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) breeding sympatrically in southwestern Germany. While most individuals winter in the traditional areas in the Mediterranean, a growing number of blackcaps started migrating to Britain instead. The rapid microevolution of this new strategy has been attributed to assortative mating and better physical condition of birds wintering in Britain. However, the isolating barriers as well as the physical condition of birds are not well known. In our study, we examined whether spatial isolation occurred among individuals with distinct migratory behaviour and birds with different arrival dates also differed in physical and genetic condition. We caught blackcaps in six consecutive years upon arrival on the breeding grounds and assigned them via stable isotope analysis to their wintering areas. Analysis of the vegetation structure within blackcap territories revealed different microhabitat preferences of birds migrating to distinct wintering areas. Blackcaps arriving early on the breeding grounds had higher survival rates, better body condition and higher multilocus heterozygosities than later arriving birds. We did however not find an effect of parasite infection status on arrival time. Our results suggest that early arriving birds have disproportionate effects on population dynamics. Allochrony and habitat isolation may thus act together to facilitate ongoing divergence in hybrid zones, and migratory divides in particular.

In this three-volume biography, we revisit the life and accomplishments of the revolutionary scientist, Donald R. Griffin. He encountered a lifetime of initial hostile resistance to his ideas and studies; now they are largely accepted. He and a colleague discovered the phenomenon of echolocation used by bats to navigate and capture insects, proposed that birds navigate guided by such cues as the sun and stars, and suggested that animals are likely aware, thinking and feeling beings. Forty interviews with his colleagues and friends help us understand the young emerging scientist and the mature researcher. We learn about his and others' research up to the present times. We gain insights into his thinking and the rigors and delights of fieldwork. Efforts to promote animal well-being intrinsically depend upon the insights from his groundbreaking ideas.

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Sea-level changes are modulated in coastal northern California by land-level changes due to the earthquake cycle along the Cascadia subduction zone, the San Andreas plate boundary fault system, and crustal faults. Sea-level rise (SLR) subjects ecological and anthropogenic infrastructure to increased vulnerability to changes in habitat and increased risk for physical damage. The degree to which each of these forcing factors drives this modulation is poorly resolved. We use NOAA tide gage data and 'campaign' tide gage deployments, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data, and National Geodetic Survey (NGS) first-order levelling data to calculate vertical land motion (VLM) rates in coastal northern California. Sea-level observations, highway level surveys, and GNSS data all confirm that land is subsiding in Humboldt Bay, in contrast to Crescent City where the land is rising. Subtracting absolute sea-level rate (∼1.99 mm/year) from Crescent City (CC) and North Spit (NS) gage relative sea-level rates reveals that CC is uplifting at ∼2.83 mm/year and NS is subsiding at ∼3.21mm/year. GNSS vertical deformation reveals similar rates of ∼2.60 mm/year of uplift at Crescent City. In coastal northern California, there is an E-W trending variation in vertical land motion that is primarily due to Cascadia megathrust fault seismogenic coupling. This interseismic subsidence also dominates the N-S variation in vertical land motion in most of the study region. There exists a second-order heterogeneous N-S trend in vertical land motion that we associate to crustal fault-related strain. There may be non-tectonic contributions to the observed VLM rates.

The sentence starting at line 8 should read (Meningen som börjar på rad 8 skall lyda): The majority of the marked birds found moulting as non-breeders in the Baltic States usually originated from within 25 km of the moulting site, the others from countries, including Germany and Poland, situated to the south of the moulting site. The amended words are underlined. (De rättade orden är understrukna.

AimMacroecological analyses provide valuable insights into factors that influence how parasites are distributed across space and among hosts. Amid large uncertainties that arise when generalizing from local and regional findings, hierarchical approaches applied to global datasets are required to determine whether drivers of parasite infection patterns vary across scales. We assessed global patterns of haemosporidian infections across a broad diversity of avian host clades and zoogeographical realms to depict hotspots of prevalence and to identify possible underlying drivers.LocationGlobal.Time period1994–2019.Major taxa studiedAvian haemosporidian parasites (genera Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon and Parahaemoproteus).MethodsWe amalgamated infection data from 53,669 individual birds representing 2,445 species world‐wide. Spatio‐phylogenetic hierarchical Bayesian models were built to disentangle potential landscape, climatic and biotic drivers of infection probability while a...

Supervised and unsupervised satellite image classifications have progressed greatly in recent years. However, discrimination difficulties still remain among classes that directly affecting data extraction and surface mapping accuracy. The Ouargla region in southeastern Algeria is intersected by wadis, where direct communication between the shallow groundwater table and these dry, overlying ephemeral stream beds exists. Underflowing groundwater exfiltrates into lowlying aeolian blowouts or endorheic basins forming oases, chotts, and sebkhas, commonly known as saline wetlands. These wetlands are becoming increasingly vulnerable to anthropogenic stress, resulting in significant water degradation. Wetland microclimates are very important to arid regions, as they promote oasis ecosystem sustainability and preservation. High water salinity in these ecosystems, however, directly affects flourishing habitat and undermines successful desert oasis development. The objective of this work is to choose the best classification method to identify saline wetlands by comparison between the different results of land use mapping within the Ouargla basin. Landsat ETM+ (2000) satellite imagery, using visual analysis with colored compositions, has identified various forms of saline wetlands in the Ouargla region desert environment in southeast Algeria. The results show that supervised classification is validated in the identification of Saharan saline wetlands, and that support vector machine (SVM) algorithm presents the best overall accuracy.

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Leucism, broadly defined as the lack of melanin pigmentation, occurs in many animal species. Most studies on leucism and other colour aberrations are based on opportunistic observations or small cross-sectional samples, thus limiting our ability to produce reliable results and test theoretical predictions. This study combines cross-sectional and longitudinal data collected in 2016–2020 from a population of red-necked nightjars (Caprimulgus ruficollis). The goals of the study are (i) to investigate sex and age effects on partial leucism, (ii) to separate within-subject effects (progressive greying) from between-subject effects (selective disappearance), and (iii) to examine differences in body mass, structural size, and life span between leucistic and non-leucistic individuals. The probability of leucism in nightjars increased from juveniles to adults at similar rates in males and females. Our longitudinal analysis and life-span comparisons indicated a minor contribution of selective...

et houhamdi.moussa@ univ-guelma.dz). L'impact des facteurs anthropiques sur le peuplement d'oiseaux d'eau étudié a été fortement ressenti durant les quatre saisons. En dépit de ces impacts négatifs subis, les sites de cette région présentent toujours une grande valeur ornithologique.

Background: China's coastal wetlands belong to some of the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. The loss and degradation of these wetlands seriously threaten waterbirds that depend on wetlands. Methods: The China Coastal Waterbird Census was organized by volunteer birdwatchers in China's coastal region. Waterbirds were surveyed synchronously once every month at 14 sites, as well as irregularly at a further 18 sites, between September 2005 and December 2013. Results: A total of 75 species of waterbirds met the 1 % population level Ramsar listing criterion at least once at one site. The number of birds of the following species accounted for over 20 % of the total flyway populations at a single site: Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), Siberia Crane (Grus leucogeranus), Far Eastern Oystercatcher (Haematopus osculans), Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica), Spotted Greenshank (Tringa guttifer), Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris), Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Calidris pygmeus), Saunders's Gull (Larus saundersi), Relict Gull (Larus relictus), Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor) and Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus). A total of 26 sites supported at least one species of which their number met the 1 % criterion. Forty-two species met the 1 % criterion in the Yellow River Delta, Shandong; 29 at the Cangzhou coast, Hebei and 26 species at the Lianyungang coast, Jiangsu. Conclusions: The results highlight the international importance of China's coastal wetlands for waterbirds. This study also demonstrates that participation of local birdwatchers in waterbird surveys results in data that are invaluable not only for understanding the current status of waterbirds in China's coastal regions but also for waterbird conservation and management.

Two of the most fundamental ecological questions about any species relate to where they occur and in what abundance. Here, we combine GPS telemetry data, survey data and expert knowledge for the first time to define two distinct flyways (the East Asian Continental and West Pacific flyways), migration routes and abundance for the Eastern population of Bewick's Swan Cygnus columbianus bewickii. The Eastern population is the largest flyway population, supporting c. 77% of Bewick's Swan numbers globally. GPS telemetry data showed that birds breeding in the Russian arctic from the Yamal Peninsula to c. 140°E (including the Lena and Yana Deltas), winter in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China (which we label the "East Asian Continental flyway"). Bewick's Swans breeding from the Indigirka River east to the Koluchin Bay winter in Japan, mostly in Niigata, Yamagata and Ishikawa Prefectures (the "West Pacific flyway"). There was no overlap in migration routes used by tagged individuals from the two flyways. Counts of Bewick's Swans in the East Asian Continental flyway during the 21st century have shown wide between-year variations, reflecting incomplete coverage in earlier years. Bewick's Swans in this flyway currently numbers c. 65,000 birds based on extensive wintering survey coverage, compared to c. 81,000 in the early 2000s, based on less complete coverage. Chinese-wintering swans Bewick's Swan flyways in East Asia 15 © Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Wildfowl (2020) Special Issue 6: 13-42 now concentrate mainly (c. 80%) at Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province and Hubei Lakes (mostly in Longgan Lake), compared to a more widespread distribution both within Poyang and throughout the Auhui Lakes in 2004 and 2005. In contrast, Bewick's Swans of the West Pacific flyway now numbers c. 40,000, compared to just 542 in 1970. This population has shown no significant overall change since 2004, when it numbered c. 45,000 birds. Small numbers within this population probably also winter in South Korea. These results provide our first basic understanding of the winter distribution of Chinese-and Japanese-wintering Bewick's Swans in relation to their breeding areas, confirming the need to coordinate future research and monitoring in the two flyways, as well as the need for more information on swans wintering in South Korea.

Wader species wintering on the Banc d'Arguin increased their body mass by about 40% during the 4-6 weeks before their departure in spring. This estimate is based on 1) the empirical fact that most waders which had finished or suspended their body moult into summer plumage were heavy and thus ready to take off, and 2) the assumption that only the heaviest birds tn the population left, which allowed the mass of disappearing waders to be estimated from counts and the frequency distribution of body masses in samples of captured birds. The mass gain on the Banc d'Arguin is just over 1% per day, when expressed as a proportion of winter mass. A review of studies on waders preparing for migration shows that I) the total migratory reserve adds 20-80% to winter mass, 2) the rate of mass gain is 0.1-4% per day and 3. the period of mass increase lasts four weeks on average, but longer if waders prepare for spring migration on the wintering areas. We suggest that all wader species leaving the Banc d'Arguin at the end ofApril and the beginning of May are able to reach SE. and NW. Europe without refuelling. This seems only possible ifcurrent equations to predict flight range systematically underestimate this range, even when the energetic benefits of favourable winds at high altitude are taken into account.

Storks are huge wading birds found throughout the Indian subcontinent. They are members of the order Ciconiiformes and have lengthy bills, necks, and legs. The Ciconiidae family is intimately related to wetlands, marshes, and swamps. The study was carried out for four years (January 2020 to December 2023) to determine the occurrence and distribution of stork species in India's drought-prone Kota region. The line transect and point count methods were used for road surveys and field visits. Despite its harsh climate, the Kota region is fortunate to host six species of storks (three resident and three winter migratory). The six species were sighted alone, in flocks, and in mixed flocks. They were seen foraging and resting in reservoirs, rivers, seasonal ponds, and agricultural fields with water. Seasonally, the type of bird flocks was changed. Sand mining in rivers, the disappearance of seasonal ponds, and severe changes in agricultural practices pose a serious threat to storks and other wetland birds. It is critical to include local communities in the conservation of the stork species.

Severe summer weather in Greenland and Arctic Canada in 1972 and 1974 caused very poor breeding success and elevated adult mortality in red knots Calidris canutus islandica. We show that those individual knots that are known to have survived these summers were in better than average nutritional condition shortly before departure from their late spring staging area in west Iceland. The condition index of previously banded or subsequently recovered birds captured in Iceland was positively related to the number of summers they were known to have survived. Body stores carried from the last spring staging area to the breeding grounds appear to offer Arcticbreeding shorebirds significant selective advantages: they are used for physical transformation from migration to breeding condition, and in years when weather is difficult may enable survival after arrival on the breeding grounds.

We present a novel formulation of a mark-recapture-resight model that allows estimation of population size, stopover duration, and arrival and departure schedules at migration areas. Estimation is based on encounter histories of uniquely marked individuals and relative counts of marked and unmarked animals. We use a Bayesian analysis of a statespace formulation of the Jolly-Seber mark-recapture model, integrated with a binomial model for counts of unmarked animals, to derive estimates of population size and arrival and departure probabilities. We also provide a novel estimator for stopover duration that is derived from the latent state variable representing the interim between arrival and departure in the state-space model. We conduct a simulation study of field sampling protocols to understand the impact of superpopulation size, proportion marked, and number of animals sampled on bias and precision of estimates. Simulation results indicate that relative bias of estimates of the proportion of the population with marks was low for all sampling scenarios and never exceeded 2%. Our approach does not require enumeration of all unmarked animals detected or direct knowledge of the number of marked animals in the population at the time of the study. This provides flexibility and potential application in a variety of sampling situations (e.g., migratory birds, breeding seabirds, sea turtles, fish, pinnipeds, etc.). Application of the methods is demonstrated with data from a study of migratory sandpipers.

In an effort to reduce goose depredation at a traditional spring migratory stopover site, private landowners implemented a coordinated hazing plan to scare Aleutian cackling geese (Branta hutchinsii leucopareia) from private lands to adjacent public pastures that were cultivated and set aside specifically for geese. Coincidentally, some Aleutian geese began using a new stopover site 150 km farther south in their spring migratory range; numbers at the new site continue to increase. We tested the idea that when their ability to acquire resources deteriorates geese are likely to seek improved foraging conditions, especially during spring migration when individuals strive to maximize nutrient stores and minimize energy expenditure. We quantified measures of goose foraging performance in traditional and new spring staging sites by calculating foraging opportunity, foraging effort, body condition, and daily energy expenditure. Geese staging at the site with higher levels of human disturba...

Phalaropus fulicaria, spesies burung pantai pengembara, teramati di laguna Pantai Trisik, Kulon Progo, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. Perjumpaan ini menjadi catatan pertama kehadiran spesies tersebut di Indonesia. Kepastian penemuan ini didapat setelah mendiskusikan bukti foto dan penelusuran pustaka. Catatan tentang suara, penandaan yang dilakukan serta masa tinggal spesies ini di lokasi disajikan dalam catatan.

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

was no change in egg volume over the season despite an increased food supply. The latter result may be a consequence of later breeding females investing less in their clutches, or that a seasonal increase in food supply compensated a lower potential for egg volume in late females (that may be of lower quality).

NORTHRUP, J.M., RIVERS, J.W., NELSON, S.K., ROBY, D.D. & BETTS, M.G. 2018. Assessing the utility of satellite transmitters for identifying nest locations and foraging behavior of the threatened Marbled Murrelet Brachyramphus marmoratus. Marine Ornithology 46: 47–55. Understanding movements of small seabirds has been particularly challenging due to limitations in tracking technology. As tracking devices become smaller and more powerful, and are deployed on smaller bird species, they need to be evaluated. We assessed whether small, platform terminal transmitters (PTTs; 5 g) could be used to study the nesting, movement, and foraging behaviors of the Threatened Marbled Murrelet Brachyramphus marmoratus in Oregon, US. We attached PTTs that transmitted locations and temperature measurements through the Argos satellite system to seven adult murrelets. We fit continuous-time correlated random-walk models to location data to examine coarse movement patterns and determine whether murrelets we...

We examined spatial distribution and habitat use of Marbled Murrelets Brachyramphus marmoratus during summer 2007 in Port Snettisham, Alaska. Murrelet habitat use at sea depends on a combination of biotic and abiotic factors, with the importance of those factors dependent on the spatial scale of analysis. We expected that murrelet distribution relative to prey would depend on prey abundance, murrelet breeding stage and murrelet aggregation patterns. We modeled murrelet distribution at fine (100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 m) and meso (14.4 km) scales using classification and regression tree analysis. At fine scales, we examined murrelet density, number of groups and presence-absence in relation to distance to creek, distance to shoreline, distance to flyway, mean depth, tidal slick count, prey schools, prey relative abundance and tidal stage. At most fine scales, distance to flyways was the most important explanatory variable, with prey variables becoming more important as scale increased. However, models of fine-scale habitat use did not perform well (e.g. the regression tree explained only 9.8% of the variance at the 100 m scale). At the meso scale, we examined murrelet density and number of groups in relation to breeding period, tidal stage, time of day, prey schools, prey relative abundance and tidal slick count. We found that low prey availability was associated with lower densities of murrelets. There was an interaction with breeding period, however; under conditions of low prey availability, murrelets were more abundant during incubation and chick-rearing than during nest initiation and postbreeding, suggesting that murrelets remained close to nesting habitat during periods requiring frequent inland flights. Models at meso scale performed well, explaining almost 50% of the variation. We used Ripley's K to examine spatial clustering by murrelets relative to each other (univariate) and to their prey (bivariate). Murrelets exhibited spatial clustering on all transects, with a patch length (scale of clustering) ranging from 0.3 to 9.0 km. Patch length increased at the end of the breeding season (chick rearing and postbreeding). On days when murrelet mean group size was high (>2.33 murrelets/group), murrelets tracked prey at a finer scale and had lower patch lengths, suggesting larger groups were more closely associated with fish and were closer to other groups of murrelets. comparing clustering characteristics among three prey-abundance categories (low, medium, high), we found murrelets tracked prey over a broader range of scales at medium prey abundance. Results supported our predictions about the spatial nature of murrelet habitat use and confirmed relationships between murrelet spatial distribution and prey abundance, breeding stage and murrelet clustering.

Abnormal white feathers have been reported in many wild bird populations and can be caused by different aberrations. Leucism (Greek Leukos = white), for example, is a partial or total lack of melanin in feathers and skin (van Grouw 2012, 2013). The lack Abstract: Pigment disorders such as albinism, leucism and progressive greying, which cause the absence of melanin pigments in all or parts of the plumage and bare parts, have been reported in many wild bird populations including Acrocephalus warblers. Basra Reed Warbler Acrocephalus griseldis (Hartlaub, 1891) is a restricted-range species confined to the extensive reed beds of Mesopotamian marshes. It is listed as Endangered due to breeding habitat degradation, water scarcity and climate change. In April 2018, a partly white plumaged Basra Reed Warbler was sighted in Central Marshes in southern Iraq. This is the first report of such a plumage aberration in this species. The nature of the aberration involved an intraspecific/interspecific behavior of the white plumaged Basra Reed Warbler are described.

The adult sex ratio (ASR) is a crucial component of the ecological and evolutionary forces shaping the dynamics of a population. Although in many declining populations ASRs have been reported to be skewed, empirical studies exploring the demographic factors shaping ASRs are still rare. In this study of the socially monogamous and sexually dimorphic Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa limosa), we aim to evaluate the sex ratio of chicks at hatch and the subsequent sex-specific survival differences occurring over 3 subsequent life stages. We found that, at hatch, the sex ratio did not deviate from parity. However, the survival of pre-fledged females was 15-30% lower than that of males and the sex bias in survival was higher in low-quality habitat. Additionally, survival of adult females was almost 5% lower than that of adult males. Because survival rates of males and females did not differ during other life-history stages, the ASR in the population was biased toward males. Because females are larger than males, food limitations during development or sex-specific differences in the duration of development may explain the lower survival of female chicks. Differences among adults are less obvious and suggest previously unknown sex-related selection pressures. Irrespective of the underlying causes, by reducing the available number of females in this socially monogamous species, a male-biased ASR is likely to contribute to the ongoing decline of the Dutch godwit population.