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June 2006
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| The importance of Southwest Greenland for wintering seabirds David Boertmann, Anders Mosbech and Flemming Ravn Merkel |
| The coastal and offshore
waters of Southwest Greenland are internationally important winter quarters for seabirds.
Estimates of the total number of wintering seabirds are in the region of 3.5-5.5 million
individuals (not including an unknown but probably extremely large number of Little Auks Aile
aile). These seabirds originate mainly from Arctic Canada, Greenland and Svalbard, but
also, to a lesser extent, from Alaska, Iceland, mainland Norway and Russia. The most
numerous species are Common Eider Somater;a mollissima, King Eider S. spectabilis,
Brunnich's Guillemot Uria lomvia and Little Auk. Some key areas have been
designated as Important Bird Areas (I BAs) by BirdLife International, and recent data
indicate that more areas qualify as IBAs. The most immediate threat to the seabirds in
Southwest Greenland is hunting, and current harvest levels of the Greenland breeding
populations of Brunnich's Guillemot and Common Eider are considered unsustainable. Bird
hunting is prohibited in spring and summer; however, there are no sanctuary areas in
Southwest Greenland, and a degree of spatial regulation of winter hunting is urgently
required.
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| Nectarivory of Palearctic migrants at a stopover site in the Sahara Volker Salewski, Bettina Almasi and Adrian Schlageter |
| Nectarivory of
long-distance Palearctic migrants is known from Europe but there are few reports of nectar
as a resource for migrants in Africa. Migrants feeding on nectar were regularly observed
in the oasis of Ouadane, a stopover site in the western Sahara, Mauritania, in spring 2003
and 2004. Migrant species observed consuming nectar were Eastern/Western Olivaceous
Warbler Hippolais pallidalopaca, Orphean Warbler Sylvia hortensis, Common
Whitethroat S. communis, Subalpine Warbler S. cantillans, Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus
collybita and Willow Warbler Ph. trochilus, which took nectar from five tree
species (Balanites aegyptiaca, Maerua crassifo/ia, Capparis decidua, Acacia raddiana,
Ziziphus mauritiana). Flowering trees were available throughout the entire presumed
migration period and, as well as providing nectar, they attracted many insects. We suggest
that the phenology of flowering trees might be crucial for bird migration in spring, and
might offer a solution to the phenomenon known as 'Moreau's paradox', i.e. that migrants
successfully lay down fuel reserves prior to spring migration during the dry season, when
potential resources are thought to be at their lowest.
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| Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palearctic lists Martin Collinson |
This paper summarises the taxonomic changes that have affected the BOU British List and the British Birds Western Palearctic list since 2000. The purpose of this review is to present these changes simply and clearly, in a single document to provide an easy reference, and to give brief, non-technical explanations of the reasons underlying the decisions. Similar updates will be provided in future in BB on a more regular basis.
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