13

Lopez, A. & Mundkur, T. (eds.) 1998. statementsof supportfor theAWC from For this analyticalproject, data suchas The Asian Waterfowl Census1994- the Bonn Convention and the Ramsar thosepresented in thisreport will be 1996. Resultsof the Coordinated Convention. In his introduction, essential.Keep counting!! Waterbird Censusand an Overviewof Delmar Blasco(the Secretary-General the Statusof Wetlandsin Asia. of the Ramsar Convention) recalls the David A. Stroud Wetlands International, Kuala Resolutionpassed by the 1996 Lumpur. 118 pp. Conference of Parties in Brisbane which Van der Have, T.M., Bacetti, N., Keijl, ISBN 983-9663-27-5. calledupon "Wetlands International to G.O. & Zenatello, M. 1997. continueto developthe International Waterbirdsin Kniess, Tunisia. This reportsummarises the resultsof the Waterfowl Census and to enhance its February 1994. WWO Report - 54. AsianWaterbird Census (AWC - part of globalcoverage as an importantbasis Wetland International's International for the identification of Ramsar sites". This WIWO reportcan be purchasedby Waterfowl Census)for the threeyears paying25 Dutch guilders[Dr] (plusa 1994-96, and includes information from Following a recentuncertain period Dfl. 15.00 administration cost for each countries in Asia, from Pakistan when the future of central co-ordination separateorder) to postalgiro account eastwards.Twenty-one countries of the Asian Waterbird Census seemed 2.666.009 or to ABN-AMRO bank contributedto informationin the report in doubt,this report and its account57.02.16.613 of Stichting with a total of 1,994 sites counted at endorsement,is proof,if any were WIWO, Fetha 23, 3633 CT Vreeland, least once and 376 sites counted in all needed,of the greatutility of suchdata. The Netherlands;or by sendingcash or threeyears. An impressivetotal of at Delmar Blascorightly looksto the a Eurocheque(both free of least1,382 participants were involved in greaterinvolvement and development of adminstrationcosts) to the same countingin 1994 althoughnumbers national networks in the collection and address. appearto havefallen in later years. The analysisof censusdata. Yet this can bulk of the reportis madeup of data only occurthrough the maintenanceof This is anotherimpressive WIWO report tablessummarising the informationfor stronginternational co-ordination to approximately140 pageslong reporting eachcountry (species totals by yearby lead thisprocess of developingnational on a five week expedition.The country,and site totalsby year but not schemes, and to share common expeditionhad five aimsand seemsto by species).These are precededby standards of data collection and have achieved all of these countryoverviews organised by region management. comprehensively.Indeed, it showswhat as follows: can be achieved in this timescale. The currentreport is clearlyan Detailed counts were taken of of South Asia indicationof positivecommitment from the Kneissarea and compared with ,, , Pakistan,Sri Wetlands International - Asia Pacific to thoseof a previouscount. Many species Lanka the AWC and they shouldbe countswere extremelysimilar although Southeast Asia congratulatedon their continuing there were considerable declines in fish- Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Lao supportfor the census.Clearly the eatingbirds which were unexplained. P.D.R., Malaysia, ,Papua New currentreport has required major effort Extensiveringing operations were Guinea,Philippines, Singapore, to produce(and all involvedare to be carriedout resultingin around 1,000 , congratulated).It will be worth all of birdsbeing ringed most of which were East Asia the time andresources expended if it Dunlin alpina. The analysisof P.R. of , Hong Kong, Japan,R. of engendersgreater on-the-ground data collectedshows just what can be Korea, Taiwan enthusiasm and commitment to wetland achievedby usinga combinationof Australasia conservation in the countries concerned. measurements and recoveries in a Australia Finally,Delmar Blascoperceptively detailedanalysis. Unfortunately, a few notes"information is only as goodas its of the conclusions drawn are rather A summarytable identifies those application".We all deserveto be daily speculative.For instance,a high wetlandsholding more than 20,000 reminded of this essential truth. There proportionof malesthat were caught waterbirds whilst another summarises is little pointin countingif we do not amongstthe Dunlin and it is assumed censusdata on globallythreatened use the data collected. that this reflects that males winter waterbirds(for wadersthese are further souththan females. Almost any SociablePlover Vanellusgregarius One immediate use for the AWC data analysisof Dunlin comesup with an (max. singleyear count= 215 in 1996), wouldbe in the contextof a project unequalsex ratio for an individual site, Nordmann'sGreenshank guttifer beingdeveloped amongst the Specialist therebeing considerablesexual (max. singleyear count= ten in 1994), Groupsof WetlandsInternational to try segregation.An analysisfrom one area Wood SnipeGallinago nemoricola to assessthe currentprotection provided is not enoughto make broad (max. singleyear count= five in 1996), by designatedRamsar sites for globally generalisations.This is minor andSpoon-billed threatenedwaterfowl. A further stage quibbling,however; if all reportswere Eurynorhynchuspygmaeus (max. single would be to identify and developcases presentedas clearlyand in as detaileda year count= 312 in 1996). for the designationof new Ramsarsites way as this, our understandingof wader whichhold importantnumbers of migrationand wintering biology would The reportis prefacedby high-level globallythreatened species. be much further advanced. 14

Dunlin were the main targetof this Palearctic(an internationalorganisation understandingand promotion of low- expeditionin termsof the ringing created within the International Council intensityfarming as a necessary studies,however reasonable samples of for Game and Wildlife Conservation - componentof natureconservation a rangeof otherspecies were collected. CIC) is a model accountof an important continuesto develop(e.g. Bignal & Excellentdata are givenon the wildlife site. It is illustrated with McCracken 1996; Pienkowski & biometricsof eachof thesespecies, and spectacularcolour photographs and Martin-Novella 1996). I would will be of considerablevalue to anybody cleargraphics throughout. It startsby thoroughlyrecommend this attractive wantingto undertakecomparative outliningthe geomorphologicalhistory little book as "a goodread". The photos studies.All too oftenexpeditions of this of the lake, a shallowcoastal lagoon are spectacular,and as well as the sortgive ratherlittle informationthat is formerly connectedto the Baltic but scienceoutlined above, there are a store usableon the non-targetspecies. One of now isolatedby a bar formedabout of fascinatinghistorical anecdotes - the mostdifficult aspectsof this 4,000 yearsago. It thensummarises the suchas the descriptionof the great expeditionwas a searchto try and find historical and current land-uses and Amber-Rushof 1842! - togetherwith winteringSlender-billed economicsignificance of the lake, illuminatingstories of the ornithologists Numeniustenuirostris. Thirty-one beforemoving to considerthe historyof and others who have studied the lake wetlandswere visitedwithout any ornithologicalresearch and surveyat the and its wildlife. The author and success. The work that has been lake, pastand currentconservation publishersare to be congratulated. undertaken, however, has been status,and habitat management and explainedclearly so that these negative predatorcontrol issues. There is an David A. Stroud resultscan hopefully in the futurebe extensivedescription of the statusof the comparedwith more positiveresults if main speciesoccurring on the lake References thereis an upturnin the population. andchapters on the populationecology of breedingducks, as well as the Bignal, E.M. & McCracken, D.I. 1996. The last aim of thisexpedition was to author's detailed studies of Black- Low-intensityfarming systems in the look at resightingsof colour-marked headed Gulls Larus ridibundus. conservationof the countryside. GreaterFlamingos Phoenicopterus J. Appl. Ecol. 33(3): 413-424. ruber. This is an excellentexample of Of particularsignificance to thosewith addedvalue from an expedition. Small an interestin breedingwaders in the Pienkowski, M.W. & Martin-Novella, amountsof time were spentregularly Baltic areinterpreted histograms C. 1996. Opportunitiesforthe searchingfor colourringed birds presentingthe resultsof monitoringat EuropeanPastoralism Forum to resultingin 90 resightingsof birds the site since 1958. There have been influenceEuropean and Spanish markedin Franceand Spain. Thereis a dramaticchanges to breeding thinking. WaderStudy Group Bull. 80: clearanalysis comparing these sightings populationswith significantdeclines in 55-61. with previousdata which is of severalwaders. These changes have •""'•'• -• ,,,,••r',nne nn"• "'"• ...... m['lm considerablevalue in understandingthe resulted from the loss of extensive, usemade of Tunisiaduring non- formerlygrazed coastal meadows Serrra, L., Magnani, A., Da!!'Antonia, breedingseasons. aroundthe lake. Following the P. & Baccetti, N. 1997. Risultati dei establishmentof protectivestatus for the censimentidegli ucce!!iacquatici All-in-all this is an authoritativereport lake in 1957, traditionalcattle grazing svernanti in Italia, 1991-1995. which will be of considerable use to a andhaymaking in thesemeadows Biologia e Conservazionedella Fauna wide variety of peopleinterested in ceasedand the resultinghabitat changes 101: 1-312. water birds in the Mediterranean. (principallydevelopment of rank grasslandand reed-bed expansion) were This carefullyprepared report Nigel A. Clark to the detrimentof breedingwaders. summarises the Italian mid-winter The changesfirst affectedbreeding International Waterfowl Census results Viksne, J. 1997. The bird lake Dunlin, the lastpair of which was for the period1991-1995. During that Engure. Jana Seta, Latvia. 109 pp. recorded in 1963. Conditions ISBN 9984 07 057 3. time, coverageprogressively improved, deterioratedfor otherspecies from 120 sites counted in 1991 to 335 progressively,with significantdeclines sites in 1995. In all, 483 sites were This is a fascinatingand beautifully commencingin 1958 for Ruff, in 1977 counted at least once in the five mid- publishedaccount of the Engurelake in for Redshank,and in 1978 for Lapwing. winter periods. Total waterfowl Latvia - a key Baltic wetlandfor Althoughwaders have been 'losers' as a numbers also increased as a migratoryand breedingwaterbirds of resultof thesehabitat changes, ducks consequenceof bettercoverage, from about5,000 ha (of which about 1,000 ha have been'winners'. The volume gives 122,993 in 1991 to 859,151 in 1995. is reedbed).It is Latvia'slargest coastal a clear outline of the current habitat lake with over 500 vascularplants, and managementregime to maximiseduck The authorshave put a huge amountof is of majorimportance not only for productivityat lake Engure. work into analysingthe datacollected stagingwaterfowl but alsofor breeding andpresenting it clearlyin tables, birds(185 speciesrecorded nesting). The storyof the lost coastalmarshes figuresand maps. The reportcovers The lake was designatedas Latvia's first seemsto be a classiccase of misguided Ramsar site in 1995. 115 wetlandbirds (from diversto terns conservationpractice following from a and includes data on three wetland failureto appreciatethe r61eof raptors). A total of 32 wader speciesare This volume,which has been published traditionalagriculture in maintaining covered. Each speciesis describedwith in English,French and Latvian editions andenhancing features of importance text (summarisingfeatures of with financial assistance from OMPO - for wildlife. Hopefullywe live in more distributionand abundance),tables Migratory Birds of the Western enlightenedtimes, since the (showingpeak counts at main sites),and 15

dot-mapsfor eachwinter (showing Also received distributionsand between-year (thesevolumes may be reviewedin a changes).Twelve speciesoccurred in future Bulletin) Italy in internationallyimportant numbersat at leastone site although Marin, G. & Schneider, E. (eds.) theseonly includedtwo waders-Dunlin 1997. Ecologicalrestoration in the Calidris alpina andAvocet Danube Delta BiosphereReserve/ Recurvirostra avosetta. Romania. Babina and Cernovca Islands. Institutul de Cercetare si The reportalso summarises a major Proiectare Delta Dunarii & WWF- exercise undertaken in 1994 to 'redefine' Auen-Insitut.120 pp. countunits into ecologicallycoherent sites. It was then necessaryto re- Svazas,S. (ed.) 1998. Proceedingsof organiseall previouscounts against the OMPO International Meeting: thesenewly definedsites and in the reproduction and important habitats processto assessdata quality - rejecting of migratory birds of the Western somelimited data. Of particularinterest Palearctic. Acta ZoologicaLituania, to me was a novel datapresentation Ornithologia8 (specialissue). 216 pp. which aimsto distinguishthose species highly aggregatedon a few sitesonly, Thorup, O. 1998. Ynglefuglenepfi from thosemore evenly spreadover Tipperne 1928-1992. Dansk Orn. many wetlands(and thusperhaps ForeningsTidsskrift 92(1). 192 pp. benefitingmore from wider-countryside conservationrather than site-protection). A complexbut easilyunderstood plot of cumulative numbers of birds on sites clearlyidentifies localised populations where 90% or more of the national populationoccurs on fewerthan ten sites.I imaginethat thiswill rapidly become the standard reference for anyonewith even a fleetinginterest in Italian wetlands and their waterbirds.

David A. Stroud