The Rota White-eye, Zosterops rotensis, is a critically endangered species endemic to the island of Rota, in the Mariana Islands, western Micronesia. There has been a dramatic decline in both its population size and range over the past few decades. The population, estimated at approximately 1,000 individuals in 1999, is found exclusively in 300 ha of mature limestone forest, though nearby areas of mature limestone forest remain unoccupied. We compared the bird community, vegetation characteristics and foliage-invertebrate density in forest plot pairs with known high and low densities of Rota White-eyes. Discriminant function analysis suggested that certain vegetation characteristics were best at predicting whether a plot was high-density or low-density. High-density plots had more stems with 20–50 cm DBH, more foliage intercepts at 3–9 m, more epiphytes, greater total canopy cover and fewer overall plant species. This information is essential for the protection of the current habitat of the Rota White-eye and for future efforts in the protection and management of this species.

Brazil’s rich biological and cultural diversity makes it an exceptional location for examining the commerce in live wild birds and its implications for conservation. This paper catalogues the live bird species being traded in Brazil, characterises the trade in these animals, and discusses the implications for avian conservation. In spite of being illegal, capturing and selling birds is still a very common practice in Brazil and involves many actors who make up part of a large commercial network that distributes wild animals to every corner of the country. Our survey revealed that at least 295 bird species are illegally sold as pets in Brazil, with estimates derived from this data pointing to a total of more than 400 species - about 23% of the number of extant bird species in the country. Of the bird species recorded, two were classified as “Critically Endangered”, nine as “Endangered”, six as “Vulnerable”, and 19 as “Near Threatened” according to the most recent IUCN Red List. Most of the species recorded in this study as being widely bought and sold (including on the international market) are not listed by CITES even though many of them are in fact threatened. In light of the widespread illegal trade in wild birds in Brazil and the conservation implications for the species involved, there is an urgent need for actions that can control these activities. Steps should be taken to address the illegal traffic directly and these must include monitoring, law enforcement, effective sentencing (including deterrent sentences), targeting end-users, captive breeding, and education at all levels, taking into account the cultural, economic, social, and ecological aspects of the human populations involved.

Afromontane forest is the most localised and threatened habitat type in Angola. For the past 40 years the estimate of the area covered by this habitat in Angola has been c.200 ha. At present, 85 ha remain at Mt Moco, the most important known site to date. This habitat holds 20 bird taxa of conservation significance but some are now rare or absent at Mt Moco. Given the small extent of forest, its high conservation value and the severe human impacts on it, finding new areas of Afromontane forest is a high conservation priority. With this objective, we visited the Namba mountains in July 2010, where c.100 ha was thought to remain in the 1970s, to establish the extent and condition of forest there and to conduct bird surveys. We found closed-canopy Afromontane forest with an abundance of Podocarpus latifolius and little human disturbance. We recorded 89 bird species, 56 in or adjacent to forest and including all 20 priority taxa and a significant population of the Endangered Swierstra’s Francolin Pternistis swierstrai. On-screen digitising of forest patches using Google Earth indicates that the larger patches are an order of magnitude larger than at Mt Moco and that there is currently > 590 ha of forest in the Namba mountains, more than trebling the previous national estimate. The site qualifies as a new Important Bird Area and is a high priority for inclusion in Angola’s protected area network.

Prolonged declines in the number of Steller’s Eider Polysticta stelleri wintering in Europe have raised concerns about the conservation status of the Western Palearctic population. Coordinated helicopter surveys of all known wintering areas in Norway and Russia and ground counts in the Baltic in 2009 found c.27,000 Steller’s Eiders, similar to numbers found during the last such survey in the mid-1990s. However, around 85% of the population now winters in Russia compared to 30–50% then. The reasons for this rapid shift in distribution are unknown but are likely linked to climate change. The continuing small population size, specialist feeding and restricted distribution of Steller’s Eider necessitate continued survey and research to track population changes and provide evidence for conservation management actions to safeguard the species.

Determining the efficacy of using indicator species to predict the spatial location of biodiversity hotspots is one way of maximising the conservation of biodiversity in already threatened habitats. Recent evidence from Europe suggests raptors can play such an indicator role, so we tested this approach with a globally threatened southern hemisphere species, the Black Harrier Circus maurus. We asked if this species, found in South Africa’s mega-diverse Cape Floral Kingdom, breeds in habitat fragments that were more diverse in terms of small mammals, birds and plants than unoccupied fragments of similar size. Renosterveld is a highly fragmented habitat that has lost > 90% of its original extent and remains only on privately-owned lands. Surveys of small mammals, birds and plants undertaken in 20 fragments in the Overberg region, South Africa, revealed nine with breeding harriers and 11 without harriers. Harrier-occupied fragments were associated with a 3.5 fold higher number of bird species and higher small mammal species richness than unoccupied ones. There was a lower abundance of most plants in occupied patches, except for red grass Themeda triandra which is an indicator of pristine renosterveld. Vegetation structure was significantly different, with harriers nesting on patches with taller, more open vegetation. While the diversity trends were not statistically significant, a positive trend between the presence of harriers and higher abundance of red grass – as an indicator of the more pristine state of the patch, suggests that harriers might allow biodiversity managers a heuristic approach for selecting the remaining patches of pristine renosterveld. The need for intensive sampling of several taxa leads to small samples and a lack of clear-cut trends for these top predators as indicators of plant diversity.

Since the resources available for nature conservation tend to be very limited, localised conservation actions are often the only feasible management option. Therefore, we must select key areas where these actions will be most effective. Here we used Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) to integrate various variables in a GIS environment and identify key areas for implementing conservation actions benefiting Cinereous Vultures Aegypius monachusin south-east Portugal. Through a bibliographic search, we selected four main variables and sub-variables related to land use, food availability, disturbance and topography. These were weighted for their relative importance using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and combined using WLC to obtain suitability maps for the best nesting and foraging sites for Cinereous Vultures. Overall, the study areas show moderate to high suitability as foraging areas for the species, but only a few small patches seem suitable as nesting sites. The use of GIS-based decision support systems, such as WLC, together with an objective method for weighting variables, like the AHP, allows for the integration of large amounts of cartographic information into suitability maps that can easily be used to select key areas for conservation at the regional level.

Seven out of ten Black Stork chicks fitted with satellite tags successfully made the journey from Iberia to the Sahel. Four died there during their first winter and one additional bird in the second winter. Our results show that 30% of the tagged fledglings died in Iberia and 50% (5/10) in the Sahel. In the Sahel, Black Storks occupy areas of seasonal rivers and small bodies of water in these sub-Saharan savannas, where they track suitable sites according to the progressive drying of the Sahel after the summer monsoon. This behaviour may make them more susceptible to coming into contact with humans and, consequently, current and future action plans for conserving the Iberian Black Stork population should link efforts with AEWA's Strategic Plan and other international initiatives to promote the global use of water resources for humans and wildlife in the Sahel.

Understanding habitat requirements is vital for developing successful management strategies for threatened species. In this study we analyse the habitat selection of two globally threatened waterbirds (Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris and White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala) coexisting in an internationally important wetland (El Hondo Natural Park, south-eastern Spain) at three spatial scales. We surveyed adults and broods of these species fortnightly during two consecutive years and we related density and presence of birds to several habitat variables. At a pond-selection scale, the density of both species was related to the surface area of the ponds, with Marbled Teal showing avoidance of medium-sized ponds, and White-headed Ducks strong selection for the largest ponds. Within ponds, Marbled Teal avoided open waters, and was mainly associated with Phragmites reedbeds, but also selected areas with saltmarsh and Scirpus vegetation, especially for brood-rearing. White-headed Duck made more use of deeper areas with open water, especially in winter, and Phragmites was the only emergent vegetation with which it associated. When breeding success was very high in 2000, strong creching of broods was observed in White-headed Duck, but not in Marbled Teal. In order to provide suitable habitat for both species, there is a need to maintain spatial diversity with a combination of large wetlands suitable for both species and small, vegetated ones suitable for the Marbled Teal.

Although most Old World vulture species are declining or threatened in Asia and Africa, in Europe healthy vulture populations still exist. However, recent application of sanitary legislation that has greatly reduced the availability of animal carcasses is now a concern for conservationists. Until now, no studies have been undertaken to determine long-term dietary shifts in these species in Europe, but such studies are essential to optimising the resources invested in conservation and to anticipating the ecological needs of the target species. Here, we present a first attempt to examine the dietary variation in the Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus from the late Pleistocene to the present day. Medium-size wild ungulates such as southern chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica, Spanish ibex Capra pyrenaica, red deer Cervus elaphus and roe deer Capreolus capreolus dominate the diet during the Pleistocene supporting the hypothesis that Bearded Vulture distribution was largely determined by the presence of such species. On the contrary, domestic species, such as sheep Ovis aries and goat Capra hircus, are the most common taxa in the diet in modern and historic periods. The actual dependence of the species on livestock, along with a restrictive sanitary legislation, threaten the conservation of this and other endangered avian scavengers in Europe. This new paleobiological conservation perspective confirms that efforts to establish a self-sustaining Bearded Vulture population should be enhanced by the widespread availability of medium-sized wild ungulates and by the presence of extensive and traditional grazing practices.

The largely deforested island of Cebu, Philippines, hosts a forest-dwelling hawk-owl identified in the literature as Ninox philippensis spilonota but which is in fact a Cebu island endemic species, soon to be named. To determine the current distribution and habitat requirements of this hawk-owl, the five largest of 11 remaining forest patches on Cebu were surveyed between March and June 2011, involving 64 post-sunset 500-m walked transects with playback and habitat assessments. Radio-telemetry studies were also conducted on 10 owls but only for 3–5 days per owl as they removed the transmitters. A total of 52 owls were located across all five forests (at 16 sites two owls responded together to playback) but only the largest forest, Alcoy, contained enough transects for analyses of habitat in relation to owl distribution. Alcoy stands on steep-sided hills and some planting of exotic species occurs within it. Owls were detected in forest interior, forest edge and forest-plantation mix in Alcoy, and on ridges and in gullies despite lower tree densities and greater proximity to clearings in the gullies. However, parts of Alcoy experience strong winds, and owl occupancy decreased significantly with increasing wind speed. Home ranges for the 10 radio-tagged owls were estimated to cover ∼10 ha, although given the short tracking periods this may be an underestimate. Suitable forest studied covers roughly 1,670 ha, with six unstudied forests totalling 250 ha, so assuming a pair every 10 ha would give a tentative global population estimate of ∼ 200 pairs of Cebu Hawk-owls, and even fewer if home ranges are larger than estimated. This, coupled with continuing habitat degradation, triggers the IUCN Red List category ‘Endangered’. Tree cavities suitable for nests may be limiting, and nest-box provision could be explored, provided this does not increase predator pressure on other rare species.

Anthropogenic conversion of natural wetlands into artificial wetland habitats has produced complex wetland landscapes worldwide. In this study we investigated the responses of migratory and wintering waterbirds to five artificial wetland habitats (aquaculture ponds, paddyfields, irrigation canals, open water reservoirs and saltpans) within a novel natural-artificial wetland landscape, Yellow River Delta (YRD), eastern China from October 2007 to May 2008. The results showed that almost all bird community indicators in the YRD natural wetlands were higher than those in adjacent artificial wetlands. Across the landscape, natural wetlands remained most important for all waterbird guilds, and more than 90% of waterbird populations were dependent on these habitats. Artificial wetlands mainly provided a secondary role, supporting about 70% of waterbird species (including six species that reached 1% of their global or biogeographical flyway populations), but with distinctive functional capacity for specific waterbird guilds in different artificial wetlands. The conservation value of artificial wetlands is often ephemeral, mainly during autumn, for specific migratory waterbirds and complements that of remaining areas of natural wetlands. Therefore, the utilisation patterns of artificial wetlands are highly temporal and the majority of species are dependent on areas of natural wetland. A comprehensive study of the inter-seasonal and inter-annual variations in these different habitats and dependence by the various guilds in the YRD is required to enable the true value of these habitats to be understood. We suggest that the conservation of artificial wetlands should not be at the expense of natural wetlands, which should remain the priority for wetland landscape management. Management to maintain the existing artificial wetlands for migrating and wintering water birds should target habitat features that are absent or limited in natural wetlands thus increasing the carrying capacity of the YRD landscape.

Solitary Tinamou Tinamus solitarius is a threatened Brazilian bird, and very little is known about its ecology and behaviour. In this study we aimed to verify the use of habitats in different stages of plant succession and the circadian activity pattern of the species. The study was conducted in Santa Catarina state (27º43’S, 48º49’W). Six camera traps were used to record the species in three areas of different successional stages during a 12-month period. Traps remained at each sample site for two months, after which they were moved to a new site, a minimum distance of 100 m apart. A total of 76 independent records of Solitary Tinamou were obtained, and its habitat use was found to be different within the three successional stages (P = 0.02). The majority of 54 independent records were obtained in the secondary forest; not one photo of the species was taken in the most degraded area. Solitary Tinamou exhibited a crepuscular pattern of activity, with most records (n = 38) taken at 07h00 and 06h00, and it appears to be sensitive to forest clearance.

The Dusky-legged Guan Penelope obscura is the southernmost species of the family Cracidae, reaching its southern distributional limit in the delta of the Paraná River. Habitat loss, together with uncontrolled harvest, has led to local-scale decreases or extirpation of the species, but no quantitative evaluation of habitat preferences has been made. We surveyed Dusky-legged Guans in the Delta del Paraná Biosphere Reserve, Argentina, by motorboat along 543.9 km of nine waterways during both January and July 2009 and used occupancy modelling to estimate habitat and seasonal effects on occupancy. Detectability was 21–22% on average and occupancy estimates were highly variable within habitats, but highest in secondary forest, followed by mature plantation, and lowest in occupied residences. There were no significant differences in occupancy or detectability among habitats or seasonally. There was a strong positive effect of length of riparian habitat segments on occupancy and detectability. Habitat management efforts should address increasing the suitability of mature plantation forest for guans by increasing their similarity to native forest in structure and composition. Furthermore, we illustrate that surveys by boat can be logistically effective for surveying cracids associated with riverine habitats and that it is important to account for incomplete detectability since in our case failing to do so would have underestimated occupancy by 78–79% on average. Given this, the use of commonly accepted methodologies for surveying cracids that do not account for incomplete detectability should be reconsidered and methodologies that can produce robust, reliable estimates applied.

Olrog’s Gull Larus atlanticus breeds only in Argentina and is currently categorized as “Vulnerable”. Knowledge of the location of colonies and an updated understanding of human activities that may impact their breeding populations are crucial to the development of adequate conservation and management actions. In this paper we update the breeding distribution and abundance of Olrog’s Gull, using information from three aerial surveys (2004, 2007 and 2009) in its main breeding area, Buenos Aires Province, complemented by additional nest counts in southern Chubut Province, covering its entire breeding range. We also provide an updated and more detailed account of threats faced by Olrog’s Gulls at their nesting grounds, and summarise progress made towards their protection. The number of breeding sites was 7–12 per year, with locations differing among years. Five previously unrecorded breeding locations were identified. Colony size ranged from 5 to 3,540 breeding pairs, with the total breeding population 4,860–7,790 pairs, 98% of which nest in southern Buenos Aires Province. The main threats faced by breeding Olrog’s Gulls include coastal development, pollution, sport fishing and unregulated tourism and recreational activities. Recent strengthening of the protected area system in Argentina has resulted in all known breeding sites, with the exception of Isla Brightman, falling within protected areas. We need comprehensive, simultaneous surveys to track global population trends. Despite enhanced protection of Olrog’s Gull breeding populations, efforts are still needed to ensure that guidelines for their protection are included in management plans and that these are implemented effectively.

West African flood-plains have undergone major land-use transformations in the second half of the 20th century. To obtain insight in the effect of flood-plain development for irrigated rice cultivation on the abundance, richness, and diversity of Palearctic and Afrotropical raptors, we conducted monthly transect surveys covering dry and wet seasons in four major habitats on the Waza-Logone flood-plain of Cameroon: dry grasslands, cultivated grasslands, rice fields, and seasonally flooded grasslands resembling natural flood-plain vegetation. We recorded 36 raptor species among 2,533 individuals, dominated by Black Kite Milvus migrans, which comprised 42% of counts. Although richness and diversity were not related to land-use for Palearctic raptors, Afrotropical raptor diversity was higher on the flooded grasslands compared to the newly created cultivated habitats and dry grasslands. The abundance of Afrotropical raptors did not significantly differ across habitats but was lower in rice-fields when Black Kite and Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus were excluded. Conversely, Palearctic raptor abundance was highest in post-harvest rice fields, demonstrating the importance of the rice fields as foraging habitat for Palearctic raptors. Further transformation of West Africa’s flood-plains is expected, reducing their capacity for Afrotropical raptors, while Palearctic raptors may benefit from expansion of rice-fields, but more research is needed on their vulnerability to pesticide use.

Delimiting the distribution of a species is a complex task because many determining factors are difficult to assess in the field. This is important because distribution is a key factor in the decision-making process for conservation. One example is the Bearded Wood Partridge Dendrortyx barbatus, a species endemic to the temperate forests of the Sierra Madre Oriental (SMO) mountain range in Mexico. Lack of knowledge of its distribution has generated confusion over the assignment of the correct risk category. With the aim of predicting the distribution area of the Bearded Wood Partridge and contributing to strategies for its conservation, we updated and extended the knowledge of its distribution by modelling its ecological niche using GARP and MaxEnt algorithms. We also analysed its environmental distribution using principal components analysis, and contrasted the two most important environmental variables with the species’s distribution based on vegetation type. We found that the area potentially occupied by this species covers 17,956 km2 according to GARP and 12,974 km2 according to MaxEnt. We suggest that there is a biogeographic barrier which limits the distribution of this species in the southern part of its range. The abiotic variables that best explain its distribution are average annual precipitation and elevation, both of which coincide well with the distribution of cloud forest. A redefinition of the current range as recognised by IUCN is proposed along with the need to change its national risk category.

The Short-tailed Green Magpie Cissa thalassina, a member of an Asian lineage of uniquely coloured corvids, is represented by two subspecies, thalassina and jefferyi, that occur on the islands of Java and Borneo, respectively. The distinct Javan nominate form is poorly described in the literature and next to nothing is published on its biology and occurrence in the wild. We here document the biology and distribution of this taxon based on hitherto unpublished historical data and on our own fieldwork. We also analyse vocal data of jefferyi, thalassina and two other Cissa species and show that jefferyi and thalassina are well-differentiated, and that thalassina is bioacoustically more similar to another Cissa species from the Asian mainland. We also demonstrate important and significant biometric differences between jefferyi and thalassina that may reflect divergent adaptations to the environment, as well as plumage differences that may serve signalling functions. Finally, the application of a novel species delimitation test to our data suggests that jefferyi and thalassina deserve to be classified as biological species because their phenotypic divergence exceeds that found in many sympatric species. The revised taxonomic status of Javan thalassina invites a reconsideration of its threat status. Based on its restricted range, extreme rarity and threats by bird trapping and habitat destruction, we consider the Javan Green Magpie as globally Critically Endangered.

The Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus is the only wader that nests on the beaches of Galicia, north-west Spain. In November 2002, much of that habitat was heavily affected by the Prestige oil spill, considered one of the largest spills ever experienced in Europe. We used a 23-year dataset (1988–2010) tracking the abundance and distribution of Kentish Plover breeding pairs along the Galician coast to evaluate population trends and identify the underlying effects of an oil spill. A TRIM linear trend model classified the population trend as a moderate increase; the main trend exhibited a decline in the population from 2002 to 2004 (the second reproductive period after the catastrophe), followed by a moderate increase to the present. The results showed that the variation in annual population trends can be explained by considering the characteristics and location of breeding beaches. In the most parsimonious model, three covariates were significant: the beach position: inner (located in the interior part of the estuaries), or outer (exposed to the open sea), the beach length, and the location of the stretch of coastline in relation to the Prestige wreck. The variation was obvious both with regard to population size and habitat use, with an increase in the number of birds and breeding locations and changes in distribution along the entire Galician Coast after 2004. The birds reacted to the catastrophe by avoiding the most affected areas and moving to new breeding beaches, suggesting that conservation plans must take into account the correct management of currently unoccupied beaches that could provide potential habitat for the species.

Recent advances in bird tracking technologies are revealing that migratory birds use temporal staging sites other than breeding and wintering areas, and these areas deserve conservation efforts. Eleonora’s Falcon Falco eleonorae is a long-distance migratory raptor that breeds colonially on islands and is considered a priority species for conservation. Anecdotal observations indicate that during the pre-breeding period, Eleonora’s Falcons stay in inland areas far away from the colonies, but, to date there are no detailed data concerning the connectivity between these areas and breeding colonies. Using satellite telemetry, we analysed data from four summering events belonging to three individuals breeding in two colonies in the Western Mediterranean (Spain). All of them made inland movements in areas up to c.400 km distant from the respective breeding colonies, visiting several habitats, from forests to arable lands, probably taking advantage of high densities of insects. Perturbations occurring in these areas could threaten Eleonora’s Falcons with serious consequences at the population level. We suggest that conservation measures implemented at breeding and wintering grounds may not suffice and that temporary staging areas should be identified at a larger scale and deserve protection as well.

We report the results of a survey of breeding Greater Frigatebird Fregata minor and Lesser Frigatebird F. ariel on Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Seychelles archipelago, which hosts the largest breeding population of frigatebirds in the Indian Ocean. All four colonies across the atoll were surveyed in 2011 and 2012 by counting adults on nests and chicks, and calculating the number of fledged birds. The breeding population in 2011 consisted of approximately 4,400 pairs of Greater Frigatebird and 6,600 pairs of Lesser Frigatebird. This is a potential increase of at least 10% since the last comparable surveys in 1976/77 and 2000. However, 2012 populations were considerably less than in 2011, highlighting significant annual variation and the need for more data. We also report a new breeding colony on the island of Picard, which was last reported to host breeding frigatebirds a century ago. We outline recommendations for future frigatebird monitoring on Aldabra and elsewhere and revisions to tourist regulations resulting from the census.