This paper focuses on the synthesis of bird songs using Hidden Markov Models (HMM). This technique has been widely used for speech modeling and synthesis. However, features and contextual factors typically used for human speech are not appropriate for modeling bird songs. Moreover, while for speech we can easily control the content of the recordings, this is not the case for bird songs, where w...

The international trade in poultry hatching eggs could potentially facilitate the global dissemination of poultry disease. Provided the guidelines of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on breeding flock hygiene are followed, of those avian diseases currently listed by the OlE, only highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), Newcastle disease (ND), and avian mycoplasmosis (caused by M...

Bird populations are known to be affected by climate and habitat change. Here we assess on a continental scale the relationship of a bird population index for the Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) with spatially explicit long-term climate data. For 1971-2001 and using multiple linear regression and AIC selection methods for candidate models we found that log-transformed 30 year long-term fal...

Bird damage is a common and costly problem for fruit producers, who try to limit damage by using management techniques. This analysis used survey data from producers in five U.S. states to estimate bird damage to sweet cherry (Prunus avium) crops with and without the use of bird management. A partial equilibrium model was applied to the data to estimate the change in the marginal cost of produc...

during ornithological expedition to four provinces in the northeast and north of iran in june 2009, a total of 117 bird species belonging to 14 orders and 40 families were recorded. based on these records, eight bird species were found outside their presumed breeding range according to the available distribution maps covering iran, suggesting that updating of the distribution maps should be pro...

a captive adult common mynah (acridotheres tristis) died shortly after a course of seizure and opisthotonous with an illness characterized by severe lethargy, depression, loss of appetite, polyurate, and urate discoloration. abdominal distention and hepatomegly, visible over the abdominal skin, were noticed clinically. at necropsy, severe enlargement of liver with general discoloration was obvi...

BACKGROUND The structure of contact between individuals plays an important role in the incursion and spread of contagious diseases in both human and animal populations. In the case of avian influenza, the movement of live birds is a well known risk factor for the geographic dissemination of the virus among poultry flocks. Live bird markets (LBM's) contribute to the epidemiology of avian influen...

IntroductIon In the last half century, significant increases in the productivity of modern poultry stocks have been achieved for both the meat and the egg production sectors of the global poultry industry. Synergies have resulted from advances made in all the major activities of poultry management and housing, nutrition and ration formulation, applying poultry genetics knowledge in commercial b...

Colin Bibby (1948–2004) was the quintessential bird conservation biologist. Over his career, he served as lead scientist at two of the world’s largest bird conservation organizations, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and BirdLife International. His contributions encompassed detailed autecological studies of rare bird species such as the Dartford Warbler Sylvia undata (e.g. Bibby 1...

Bird strikes usually occur due to the entry of aircraft into the bird layer, i.e. the region up to which birds fly in the sky and are common during landing or takeoff 1. Along with the financial losses, bird strike also reduces the mission capability of the crew, loss of flying hours, permanent damages to the aircraft and importantly , it is always associated with the risk of mortality 2–6. The...