In recent decades, a general decline in Palearctic-African migrant birds has been recorded over large areas of the Palearctic. The European Turtle-dove Streptopelia turtur has undergone a rapid and serious decline across its European range, to the extent that it was categorised as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List in 2015. In this review, I synthesise the scientific literature currently available on the Turtle-dove in North Africa S. t. arenicola. I also discuss current knowledge, highlight gaps in data and outline high-priority research guidelines, while attempting to direct research efforts more effectively and to encourage appropriate and sustainable management strategies. Priorities for future research are concentrated in five key areas: (i) demography, (ii) migration, (iii) ecology, (iv) genetics, and (v) parasites and diseases. Setting up an integrated programme of long-term ecological monitoring in North African farmland and woodlands, as well as integrating new technologies into monitoring programmes, is an urgent need. These programmes should be standardised in all countries along the migratory flyway to produce comparable data. Scientific collaboration among research institutions, on national, regional and international scales, should be coordinated for maximum efficacy of the monitoring and research programmes.

Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) may favour physiological peculiarities in diet, behaviour and home-range size both across species and within species. Sex-specific differences in diet and behaviour have been reported in several bird species but there are fewer studies of foraging area size in sexually dimorphic bird species. Foraging area size should be greater in the bigger sex according to home-range size predictions based on body mass. We tested this prediction in a winter study of foraging area size in the Great Bustard Otis tarda, the most sexually size-dimorphic bird species, which forages in unisexual flocks. In this species the temporal pattern of a flock's feeding intensity; the proportion of birds actively feeding (FI) and the size of the morning foraging area (MFA) of each sex are unknown. We recorded the behaviour and movements of unisexual flocks of Great Bustards during winter mornings and sampled food availability to take into account its effect on FI and MFA. FI increased and then decreased through the morning in both sexes, and was lower in males than in females. This sexual difference was greater where legume availability was smaller. Legumes were the most preferred substrate type. Consequently, MFA sizes were smaller in sites with more legume availability. We did not find sexual differences either in the size of MFA or in the selection of the two preferred substrate types: legumes and stubble fields. MFA and FI were determined to a greater extent by ecological factors such as food availability than by metabolic requirements derived from body size differences. These results obtained from a short-term study do not preclude an effect of sexual size dimorphism on MFA size and FI of Great Bustards over longer periods but show that the body size effect on foraging behaviour may be smaller than predicted only by SSD.

Afro-Palearctic migrants move between breeding and wintering grounds along flyways determined by several factors (bird morphology, geography, behavioural adaptations) and raptors often concentrate at straits to avoid long sea crossings. Here we test the hypothesis that raptor passages across different areas of the Turkish straits are similar in species composition as well as flight behaviour. We made simultaneous observations at the Bosphorus and at the Dardanelles in autumn 2010. We tested the influence of weather, time of day and flock size on the intensity and spatial shift of migratory flow as well as the tendency to cross the Dardanelles Strait rather than follow the peninsula. We also collected information of the flight altitude of raptors using an optical range finder. The species composition observed at the two sites was completely different, with eagles predominating at the Bosphorus and small and medium-sized raptors predominating at the Dardanelles Strait. Compensation for wind drift at the Bosphorus was species-specific, with small and medium-sized raptors showing a drift effect by crosswinds, and eagles showing compensation and overcompensation. Mean flight altitude was similar among species, while the response to weather conditions varied, being mainly affected by wind. In the case of Short-toed Snake-eagles, flight ability and response to weather conditions was also age-dependent. These results show that the flight strategies of migrating raptors are species-specific even if some flight parameters may converge as a result of risk minimisation. The differences between species and flyways probably reflect interspecific differences in the ability to fly over water.

Coastal specialised species have naturally restricted distribution areas and may be drastically affected by fragmentation or loss of their habitats due to ongoing changes, such as artificialisation, shoreline erosion, rising water levels or colonisation by invasive species. In this context we characterise the land occupation strategies of a Western Atlantic French coastal endemic bird: the Bluethroat Cyanecula svecica namnetum. Our study focuses on a key period of the life cycle of this species: the post-breeding moult. Capture and recapture sessions in intertidal habitats have allowed us to retrieve 26% of local breeders during their moulting period. The modeling of moult kinetics revealed that moult of flight feathers takes 37–50 days. A radio-tracking survey of moulting birds revealed exploitation by individuals of both the lowest and tallest vegetal formations of intertidal sites and exploitation of small home ranges (0.42–1.34 ha), typical of locations where trophic resources tend to be abundant and predictable. Analyses of droppings highlighted that Coleoptera, Aranea and marine crustaceans (Amphipoda) contributed most of the prey biomass consumed, amphipods being particularly selected by birds in active moult. Our results underline the importance of intertidal wetlands in terms of trophic opportunities to compensate for the energy costs of moult for the Bluethroat. Given the global changes already dramatically affecting coastal habitats, we emphasise that special attention should be given to the conservation of intertidal wetlands for marshland passerines of conservation concern such as the Bluethroat, and that restoration of adjacent coastal terrain is a promising development.

Diet and breeding performance show variations across species' range and between different habitats. In the present paper, we report data on the diet and breeding performance of Golden Eagles Aquila chrysaetos monitored during a ten-year period in two semi-natural landscapes located at the eastern and western extremities of the Pyrenees mountain range. In the Mediterranean area of the Corbieres, the diet was dominated by the Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus (31.5% of the prey items). In the Atlantic area of the Basque Country, the diet was more diverse, with the highest proportion of intra-guild predation and the highest diet breadth ever recorded for the species (Levins index of diet breadth: 12.14 vs 6.81 in the Corbieres). The proportion of successful breeding attempts was significantly higher in the Corbieres (60%) than in the Basque Country (38.5%). The same was true for mean productivity, with 0.70 and 0.45 fledglings per territory and year, respectively. These differences were partly related to the excess of snow cover in April in the Basque Country. Our results provide an example of intra-population variability in a long-lived apex predator at the extremes of a geographical gradient involving climate and prey availability.

High Andean peatbogs are key functional wetlands in the dry Puna region and essential in conserving local biodiversity, including bird communities. We surveyed the bird communities of 18 peatbogs in the Argentinean Puna (Salta and Catamarca Provinces) to describe their species composition, their patterns of species richness and diversity; and their relationship to landscape features and local environmental variables. In total, we registered 60 species belonging to 21 families during summer 2014–2015. Species richness ranged from six to 20 species per peatbog. The Bright-rumped Yellow-finch Sicalis uropygialis, Ash-breasted Sierra Finch Phrygilus plebejus, Golden-spotted Ground Dove Metriopelia aymara and Puna Miner Geositta punensis were the most abundant representative species. The change in bird species composition among peatbogs showed a nested structure. The present study is the first one made for the avifauna of peatbogs of the Argentinean Puna and shows that the peatbogs with more irregular forms and more interconnected with other wetlands support more abundance and diversity of birds.

Morphological methods to distinguish between avian groups of research interest (e.g. different sexes, populations or cryptic species) need to be externally validated to ensure reliable performance across situations. In this study, we used stable hydrogen isotope ratios of feathers (δ²H_f) to test the validity of morphological classification functions (MCFs) previously designed to assess the migratory behaviour of European Robins Erithacus rubecula wintering in southern Iberia. Our results show that a great number of migrants (mostly females and juveniles) were erroneously assigned as sedentary, which could compromise the reliability of previous ecological studies that made use of these MCFs. The development of improved MCFs or the use of alternative differentiation methods (δ²H_f) could help us to gain a more realistic insight into the habitat distribution and ecological interactions of sympatric migratory and sedentary robins overwintering in southern Iberia.

La Sección Bibliográfica de Ardeola publica reseñas breves de publicaciones recibidas en la biblioteca de SEO/BirdLife. Estas reseñas se realizan desinteresadamente por un conjunto de colaboradores. Las reseñas son normalmente solicitadas por los editores a los colaboradores, aunque otras adicionales pueden ser consideradas para su publicación.

Las reseñas expresan las opiniones de los revisores, de modo que no reflejan necesariamente la opinión de los editores o de SEO/BirdLife.

Observaciones de aves raras en España, 2015. El presente informe publica 365 registros estudiados y aceptados por el Comité de Rarezas (CR), relativos a la presencia de 93 taxones de aves raras en el conjunto de España. El índice de aceptación de las citas obtenidas se ha situado en el 88,81%. Se trata del primer informe que no recoge observaciones de ningún taxón nuevo para la Lista de las aves de España, pero sí contiene las primeras citas de porrón osculado (Bucephala clangula) homologadas por el CR después de su inclusión en la lista de rarezas en enero de 2014, así como la primera observación de ánsar nival (Anser caerulescens) asignable a la categoría A. Por otro lado, se han revisado y reconsiderado como ‘no aceptadas’ las citas que se habían homologado en anteriores informes de correlimos grande (Calidris tenuirostris) y alcatraz de El Cabo/australiano (Morus capensis/serrator), lo que supone la salida de estas especies de la lista española. Las observaciones más destacables en cuanto a su rareza a nivel estatal incluidas en el presente informe son las de tarabilla siberiana de Hemprich (Saxicola maurus hemprichii) (primera para Canarias y segunda para España), tordo charlatán (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) (segunda para Canarias y España), piquero patirrojo (Sula sula) (segunda para Canarias y tercera para España), chorlitejo mongol chico (Charadrius mongolus) (segunda para Canarias y tercera para España) y zampullín picogrueso (Podylimbus podiceps) (segunda y tercera para Canarias). Es muy destacable también la observación de un guión de codornices (Crex crex) con comportamiento reproductivo.

Este informe recopila información de 197 especies que se reparten por toda la geografía nacional siguiendo la secuencia taxonómica y los nombres según la Lista de las Aves de España (Gutiérrez et al., 2012) y teniendo en cuenta las especies consideradas actualmente como rarezas (Rouco et al., 2016). Se recuerda la importancia del envío de las citas de aquellas especies que han salido recientemente de la lista de aves consideradas como raras con el objetivo de poder conocer cómo evoluciona su estatus, si las observaciones aumentan o su presencia vuelve a ser puntual o excepcional. Por otro lado, para registrar y consultar los datos del Noticiario Ornitológico, así como de aves exóticas o de aves raras se ha preparado una aplicación, con la opción de ser utilizada a través de la telefonía móvil:  www.gruposdetrabajoseo.org

SEO/BirdLife (the Spanish Ornithological Society) and the Editorial Board of Ardeola express their gratitude to the following individuals for their help in the evaluation of manuscripts submitted to the journal: