Inter-Specific Variation in the Potential for Upland Rush Management Advocated by Agri-Environment Schemes to Increase Breeding Wader Densities

Encroachment of rush Juncus spp. in the United Kingdom uplands poses a threat to declining wader populations due to taller, denser swards that can limit foraging and breeding habitat quality for some species. Rush management via cutting, implemented through agri-environment schemes (AESs), could thus increase wader abundance, but there is insufficient assessment and understanding of how rush management influences upland waders. Across two upland regions of England [South West Peak (SWP) and Geltsdale nature reserve, Cumbria], we surveyed waders over four visits in fields where rush was managed according to AES prescriptions (treatment; n = 21) and fields without rush management that were otherwise ecologically similar (control; n = 22) to assess how the densities of breeding wader pairs respond to rush management in the short-term. We find evidence for regional variation in the response of waders to rush management, with densities of Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago significantly higher in treatment than control fields in the SWP, but not Geltsdale. There were no statistically significant responses to treatment on densities of Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata or Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus. The 95% confidence intervals for the treatment parameter estimates suggest that this may be due to limited statistical power in the case of Lapwing. For Curlew, however, any potential increases in densities are negligible. There was no evidence that variation in rush cover, which ranged from 10 to 70%, influenced densities of any of our three focal species. Our results suggest that rush management through AES prescriptions delivered in isolation of other interventions may not lead to general increases in breeding wader densities in the short-term, but benefits may arise in some situations due to regional and inter-specific variation in effectiveness. Rush management supported with interventions that improve soil conditions and thus food availability, or reduce predation pressure, may enable AES rush management to generate benefits. Additional research is required to maximise the potential benefits of rush management for each species through the development of prescriptions that tailor to individual species’ optimum sward structure.

Diversity of Coronaviruses in Wild Representatives of the Aves Class in Poland

The revealed prevalence of coronaviruses in wild bird populations in Poland was 4.15% and the main reservoirs were birds from orders Anseriformes and Charadriiformes, with a prevalence of 3.51% and 5.59%, respectively. Gammacoronaviruses were detected more often than deltacoronaviruses, with detection rates of 3.5% and 0.7%, respectively. Gammacoronaviruses were detected in birds belonging to six orders, including Anseriformes, Charadriiformes, Columbiformes, Galliformes, Gruiformes, and Passeriformes, indicating a relatively wide host range. Interestingly, this was the only coronavirus detected in Anseriformes (3.51%), while in Charadriiformes, the prevalence was 3.1%. The identified gammacoronaviruses belonged to the Igacovirus and Brangacovirus subgeneras. Most of these were igacoviruses and formed a common phylogenetic group with a Duck Coronavirus 2714 and two with an Avian Coronavirus/Avian Coronavirus9203, while the viruses from the pigeons formed a distinct “pigeon-like” group, not yet officially represented. The presence of deltacoronaviruses was detected in birds belonging to three orders, Charadriiformes, Galliformes, and Suliformes indicating a narrower host range. Most identified deltacoronaviruses belonged to the Buldecovirus subgenus, while only one belonged to Herdecovirus. Interestingly, the majority of buldecoviruses were identified in gulls, and they formed a distinct phylogenetic lineage not represented by any officially ratified virus species. Another separate group of buldecoviruses, also not represented by the official species, was formed by a virus identified in a common snipe. Only one identified buldecovirus (from common pheasant) formed a group with the ratified species Coronavirus HKU15. The results obtained indicate the high diversity of detected coronaviruses, and thus also the need to update their taxonomy (establishing new representative virus species). The serological studies performed revealed antibodies against an infectious bronchitis virus in the sera of white storks and mallards.

Extralimital

This chapter reflects on the author's experience as a guide of St. Paul Tour in Alaska's Pribilof Islands. During the two springs that the author guided there, he saw wood sandpipers — Eurasia's equivalent of America's lesser yellowlegs — on more days than he saw blue skies. But the wind, when it came from the right direction, blew in the good birds — the ones from Russia. For the serious North American birder, Alaska is some semblance of the final frontier. Soon, the islands — especially Attu, the outermost Aleutian, St. Lawrence Island, and St. Paul, in the Pribilofs — became revered vagrant traps: places where one could almost depend on encountering an aggregate of birds virtually never found on North America's mainland, such as common snipe and Siberian rubythroat. The St. Paul Tour is founded on the daily work of finding these out-of-place birds.

Regular wintering of Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) in NW Italian heathland habitat

The regularization of the wintering status of the Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) in NW Italy has been confirmed for the first time within the heathland of the “Baraggia di Candelo Natural Reserve” (Piedmont, Biella). Regular monitoring from winter 2009/2010 to winter 2015/2016 allowed to describe the phenology and the abundance of the species in the area comparing it with that of an ally species, the Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago). A maximum count of 6 birds during winter and at least 13 individuals during the spring migration were recorded. The species was more abundant during the second 10-day period of November and the first 10-day period of March. Jack Snipe outnumber the Common Snipe throughout the period they were censused.