The mountains of south-eastern Nigeria are a western extension of the Cameroon mountain range, which is classified as an endemic bird area (EBA). Unlike its eastern extension in Cameroon, most of the ornithological surveys in the western extension of the Cameroon highlands in Nigeria have produced only limited checklists and inventories. There is a clear need for quantitative baseline data so that conservation problems can be identified. Twenty line transects covering a total transect length of 28.8 km were used to survey five sites (Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, Oban Division and Okwangwo Division of Cross River National Park, Sankwala Mountains and Mbe Mountains) in the westernmost extension of the Cameroon Mountains EBA in south-eastern Nigeria. Vegetation measurements were taken to control for the potential confounding effect of variation in vegetation density and structure on detectability of birds between sites. The 193 bird species recorded in Afi, 158 in Sankwala, 124 in Oban, 100 in Mbe and 73 in Okwangwo Division included most of the Cameroon highlands restricted range species. The results show that the mountains of south-eastern Nigeria are important parts of the Cameroon EBA, particularly Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. However these sites are threatened by fire and livestock grazing on the hilltops, shifting agriculture on the hillsides and lowlands, and logging for timber in some parts, as well as wildlife hunting for bushmeat.

We present an assessment of the Southern Paraguayan Grasslands using Important Bird Areas (IBAs) located in a grassland landscape mosaic. Eleven IBAs in southern Paraguay were evaluated 10 years after their designation, using the BirdLife International method to assess the state, pressure, and response of these areas, during 2017 and 2018. Overall, the Pressure from ecosystem modifications led by fire, and fire suppression, agricultural expansion, and intensification due to farming and grazing have been identified as the major threats to IBAs. Regarding the State, 64% of the IBAs presented Very poor habitat quality to support grassland bird communities. The level of conservation Response was mostly negligible when considering conservation designation, management planning and conservation actions for the trigger species. Our results provide useful information to partners to reconsider these areas as IBAs as most of them no longer fulfill international requirements, we also highlight the importance of strengthening national policies to adequately protect natural grasslands.

Many migratory waterbird populations are in decline and loss of natural wetlands is one of the main causes. However, some species may respond positively to artificial wetland recreation. In Extremadura (south-west Europe), several large reservoirs were created for irrigation since the 1960s and some comparatively small reservoirs were built from the late 1990s onwards close to rice fields. Here we analyse the abundance of wintering dabbling ducks (Anas spp.) in Extremadura before (1991–1994) and after (2007–2010) the creation of these new reservoirs in order to address the current importance of the area for this guild within the East Atlantic Flyway (EAF). A mean of 25,277 dabbling ducks wintered in the study area during 1991–1994, increasing to 46,163 individuals during 2007–2010. After controlling for environmental variables, Northern Pintail Anas acuta, Common Teal A. crecca and Northern Shoveler A. clypeata experienced significant increases in the area between both periods, and only Eurasian Wigeon A. penelope suffered a significant decrease. Mallard A. platyrhynchos and Gadwall A. strepera populations did not show any significant trend. The large older reservoirs experienced overall population decreases between the two periods, with four new reservoirs holding more than 35,000 wintering dabbling ducks. Our results reflect an overall improvement in habitat conditions, driven by the creation of reservoirs near to rice fields that could have resulted in a partial redistribution of wintering dabbling ducks in the EAF. The area emerges as one of the most important wintering sites for dabbling ducks in southern Europe, regularly exceeding two of the Ramsar Convention criteria for the conservation of several populations. The protection of these new reservoirs by legal mechanisms would guarantee the existence of a large functional wetland area, which could also mitigate the loss of natural wetlands for populations using the EAF.

The Japanese Murrelet Synthliboramphus wumizusume is a rare, globally ‘Vulnerable’ seabird, endemic to Japan and South Korea. However, little is known of its at-sea distribution, habitat or threats. We conducted several years of at-sea surveys around Japan to model Japanese Murrelet density in relation to habitat parameters, and make spatial predictions to assess the adequacy of the current Japanese marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) network for the species. During a five-year period, 3,485 km of at-sea surveys recorded 3,161 Japanese Murrelets around four breeding locations. Maximum murrelet group size was 90 individuals with a mean group size of 2.9 ± 4.2 individuals. Models of Japanese Murrelet at-sea density around the two largest breeding locations predicted that almost all murrelets occur within 30 km of the breeding colony and most within 10 km. Murrelets were predicted closer to the colony in May than in April and closer to the colony at a neritic colony than at an offshore island colony. Additionally, murrelets breeding on an offshore island colony also commuted to mainland neritic habitat for foraging. The marine habitat used by Japanese Murrelets differed between each of the four surveyed colonies, however oceanographic variables offered little explanatory power in models. Models with colony, month and year generated four foraging radii (9–39 km wide) containing murrelet densities of > 0.5 birds/km2. Using these radii the Japanese marine IBA network was found to capture between 95% and 25% of Japanese Murrelet at-sea habitat while breeding and appears appropriately configured to protect near-colony murrelet distributions. Given the range of marine habitats that breeding murrelets inhabit, our simple models offer an applicable method for predicting to unsampled colonies and generating ecologically-informed seaward extension radii. However, data on colony populations and further at-sea surveys are necessary to refine models and improve predictions.

Networks of protected areas (PAs) where human activities are allowed at different degrees are fundamental to ensure the long-term conservation of biological diversity and ecological processes. However, studies aimed at assessing their effectiveness, focusing on several species simultaneously are scarce. We assessed the effectiveness of the system of protected areas (PAs) of Lombardy, Northern Italy, in conserving bird populations by comparing the changes from 1992 to 2013 in the occurrence of 54 breeding bird species censused in areas classified in different protection categories, namely Nature Reserves (NRs), areas designed predominantly for the protection of nature; Regional Parks (RPs), naturally valuable areas where human activities, including intensive agriculture, are allowed; and non-protected areas (NPAs). Overall, occurrence of common birds increased in Lombardy in the last 20 years and farmland and long-distance migrants (LDMs), which suffered sharp declines at a continental scale, showed stable and increasing trends, respectively. These trends were, however, the balance between those of species whose occurrence markedly increased, and those of species that dramatically declined. Species occurred more often in PAs than in NPAs, while temporal trends in occurrence were significantly more positive in RPs than in both NRs and NPAs. Hence, PAs seemed effective in preserving common bird communities. Occurrence of woodland and short-distance migrant species was higher in PAs than in NPAs, while occurrence of farmland species and LDMs was similar in all protection categories. PAs of Lombardy appear therefore effective only in protecting some categories of birds. Farmland and LDM birds would benefit more from ecologically sustainable land-use policies aiming at improving agro-ecosystem biodiversity than from protected areas.

Olive groves in the Mediterranean basin have undergone a tremendous increase during the last two decades, with most of the new olive groves being planted on arable land. This conversion may affect habitat suitability for steppe birds, which are associated with arable land and other open-land habitats, such as natural pastures. In this work, we evaluate the presence of new olive groves in the distribution of the Great Bustard Otis tarda and the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax in Southern Spain (the largest olive oil production zone in the world), and we compare the percentage of different land uses in 2000 and 2018 using data provided by the Corine Land Cover. From 2000 to 2018, new olive groves occupied 2.14 and 2.61% of the distribution areas of the Great Bustard and the Little Bustard, respectively. The decrease in arable land and the increase in permanent crops were the main drivers of the landscape composition changes during the study period. The fragmentation index of arable land was higher in 2018 than 2000. These changes in the landscape suggest a decrease in habitat availability and suitability for steppe birds that could affect the distribution and abundance of their populations. Moreover, there were no differences in the proportion of new olive groves planted inside and outside the limits of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) from 2000 to 2018, which were created to protect these steppe birds, thus suggesting that the management policy of the IBAs should be reviewed to prevent harmful land-use changes.

The Parc National du Banc d’Arguin in Mauritania hosts the largest concentrations of coastal waterbirds along the East Atlantic Flyway. In spite of this importance, a review of the changes in the numbers of waterbirds in the area is lacking since the first complete count in 1980. Here we analysed the seven complete waterbird counts made since then, and the additional yearly counts made in one subunit (Iwik region) since 2003. We present evidence for changes in the community composition of waterbirds over the past four decades. Total waterbird numbers showed a decrease between 1980 and 2017, with only Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus showing a significant increase in numbers. Five species showed significant declines: Long-tailed Cormorant Phalacrocorax africanus, Red Knot Calidris canutus, Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica, Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata, and Western Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus. In the remaining species, the variation in numbers between counts was too large, and the number of complete counts too small, for trends to be detected. The yearly counts at Iwik region also showed sharp decreases in the numbers of Red Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Marsh Harrier, but not of Long-tailed Cormorant and Eurasian Curlew. A multivariate analysis revealed a significant change in species composition over time, which was caused mainly by changes in the species depending on the intertidal mudflats for feeding (generally in decline) vs. the species depending on fish and crustaceans in the sublittoral and offshore zones (often showing increases).