The past five years have seen the arrival and extremely rapid expansion of West Nile virus (WNV) in the Western Hemisphere. The rapid sweep across North America has permitted little time for developing knowledge of the virus's potential impacts on wildlife in the New World. Given this information gap, we here summarize for the ornithological community what is known or can be anticipated for WNV's effect on bird communities in coming years. Our particular focus is on impacts of WNV on the conservation status of birds, the principal vertebrate reservoir for the virus.

Black Harrier Circus maurus is a rare southern African endemic that may have lost over 50% of its core breeding habitat in the last century as a result of extensive land transformation by agriculture, invasive alien vegetation and urbanization in the Fynbos biome. We partially surveyed both the western (Swartland) and southern (Overberg) coastal plains of south-western South Africa, over 3 years (2000–2002) for breeding Black Harriers, and found a distinctly polarized distribution. Nests were concentrated either along the coastal strip or inland in montane habitats, and generally absent from heavily cultivated and transformed inland plains areas. Limited evidence (direct observations, prey remains) suggests that harriers forage in cereal croplands but generally do not breed in these modified environments. We recorded breeding success at nests in coastal (Dune Thicket) and montane (Mountain Fynbos) habitats. Harriers bred successfully along the coast and nests were aggregated in loose colonies around wetlands. Harriers in montane environments bred poorly, took a wide range of prey, and were subject to high levels of nest predation. We propose that Black Harriers have been displaced from lowland Renosterveld and Fynbos habitats (characterized by better foraging and nesting opportunities), primarily by the advent and spread of cereal agriculture. The conservation and future research implications of this hypothesis are discussed.

The western Angola Endemic Bird Area has 14 range-restricted species. Little is known about the conservation status of the region's birds due to the civil war that has raged in Angola for the last 27 years. The greatest diversity of restricted-range species is found in Cuanza Sul province, and given the uncertainty about their current status, many of these species are listed as Threatened. In this paper we report the first significant ornithological visits to the Gabela region since 1974. We visited an extensive scarp forest patch at Kumbira Primero, near Conda, as well as smaller forest areas along the Sumbe–Gabela and Sumbe–Seles roads. Most of the threatened species were relocated, including several species not seen since the 1970s. Gabela Bush-shrike Laniarius amboimensis was common and Monteiro's Bush-shrike Malaconotus monteiri was fairly common in degraded secondary forest, old coffee plantations and primary forest at Kumbira. Pulitzer's Longbill Macrosphenus pulitzeri was fairly common at higher elevations at Kumbira as well as in the dense understorey of secondary forest west of Seles. Gabela Akalat Sheppardia gabela was less common, with only three birds found at Kumbira and one near Seles, but may have been overlooked. Only one group of eight Gabela Helmet-shrike Prionops gabela was recorded, in open woodland at the base of the scarp between Kumbira and Seles. Angola Cave-chat Xenocopsychus ansorgei was found on the rocky slopes above the forest at Kumbira. We describe the first sound recordings for five threatened species, which will help future systematic surveys of the region's forests. Vocal evidence confirms the close relationship between Gabela Bush-shrike and Lühder's Bush-shrike L. luehderi. The most pressing need is to assess the extent of remaining forests, map the distribution of key species of conservation concern, and then draft a strategy to conserve key habitat blocks.

Surveys of threatened lowland forest bird species and forest habitats were conducted during a 21-month census of lowland bird communities in Tambopata, Department of Madre de Dios, south-east Peru. A combination of distance sampling census methods and direct counts was used for the census in five sites located along the Rio Madre de Dios and Rio Tambopata. All five sites consisted of different forest types with significantly different habitat components. Three of these sites were classified as primary forest habitats whilst the remaining two were classified as disturbed forests. Population densities were calculated for eight of the threatened species recorded during the census. Density estimates of non-bamboo specialists were higher in primary forest habitats than in disturbed forest habitats. Density estimates of most bamboo specialists were higher in primary Old Floodplain forest with extensive bamboo understorey than in primary Middle/Upper Floodplain forest with smaller, patchy areas of bamboo understorey. Calculation of regional population estimates based on the amount of forest cover from satellite photographs shows that only two of the threatened bird species have substantial populations currently protected by the Parque Nacional Bahuaja-Sonene and Reservada Nacional de Tambopata. Selective logging operations that reduce overall tree biomass and remove a large proportion of palm tree species from primary forest habitats will have an adverse affect on local populations of four of the threatened bird species in the region.

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta has undergone much anthropogenic change in the last 100 years, and few areas of natural or semi-natural habitat remain. Despite the likely consequent loss of biodiversity, little documentation exists about the region's avifauna at any time in its history. Here, we present a review of the avifauna of the Vietnamese part of the Mekong delta based on various surveys and other fieldwork carried out since 1988, and an assessment of the few earlier data that were available. A total of 247 species has been recorded from the Vietnamese delta since 1988. Most pre-war data are now considered to be of uncertain validity. Some 50% of the species recorded since 1988 are dependent on wetlands. Of these, 20 are listed as globally threatened or Near Threatened. The delta supports, or is likely to support, internationally important numbers of 21 species of waterbird, including two threatened and three Near Threatened species. Annotations are provided for records of globally or regionally threatened species; for those species for which the Mekong Delta holds internationally important numbers; and those for which records described herein constitute range extensions. Information on the avifauna of the Mekong Delta presented here suggests it is of regional and global importance for the maintenance of wetland biodiversity.

Group size and habitat use of Black-necked Storks Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus were studied over a 30-month period in an unprotected landscape with a mosaic of natural and manmade features in Etawah and Mainpuri districts, Uttar Pradesh, India. Group size was largely one or two and never more than a family of two adults and three young. Group size did not change with season or across habitat types. Black-necked Storks used habitats to different extents across years and seasons. Wetlands were preferred in all seasons and rice-paddies were preferred during the monsoon. The use of irrigation canals was consistent across seasons and was always in proportion to their availability. Irrigation canals and crop-fields, particularly flooded rice-fields, provided some additional habitat to Black-necked Storks, but catered to the population for a very small period of time. While some studies have demonstrated that flooded rice-fields are useful for wintering waterbird species, conversion of natural wetlands to crop-fields will not be advantageous to Black-necked Storks, and these habitats need to be preserved to conserve the species.

Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica is classed as Endangered in Europe (Tucker and Heath 1994, Hagemeijer and Blair, 1997), but there have been no detailed studies of the trends in the different populations occurring in Europe and Africa. Here we study the status and trends of the species in Europe and north and north-east Africa. We estimate the total population at 10,500–12,900 breeding pairs, and recognize two biogeographical populations in this region. The western population, comprising colonies in northern Europe (Denmark, Netherlands, Germany), France, Italy, Spain, and north and north-east Africa, consists of at most 6,200 pairs, 1,800 of which are in African colonies. The eastern population, comprising colonies in the Balkan Peninsula, Greece, shores of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, and Turkey, consists of at most 6,800 pairs. Two trends were observed: a first phase from 1900 up to the mid-1970s in which the northern European populations practically disappeared; and a second phase of stabilization, or even increase, in some of the western colonies, while the eastern population continued to decline. There is a marked concentration of the species in just a few localities in the countries of the Mediterranean basin.

The editor would like to acknowledge the following for acting as referees of papers considered for Volume 14 of Bird Conservation International.