The physiological role of the uropygial gland is still controversial. Certain authors state that its function could be closely connected to the hydrophobic properties of its secretion, that may be essential for plumage waterproofing. Therefore, it could be hypothesized that the degree of this gland's development should be greater in aquatic birds than in terrestrial species. In order to validat...

I examined how winter flooding of post-harvest rice fields—a management practice used to benefit waterbirds—affects field use by other birds. In addition to waterbirds previously studied, I recorded 56 bird species in rice fields. Of these, five were more abundant in flooded fields, ten were more abundant in unflooded fields, no difference was detected for 19, and the remainder were too rare to...

Analysis of fossil birds from the Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation in the Fayum depression of Egypt, site of the oldest known hominoid primates, allows precise paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the climatic and biotic conditions that influenced some of the earliest stages of hominoid evolution. Unlike the fossil mammals of the Fayum, which belong largely to extinct groups, most of the birds...

Predator-induced changes in physiology and behaviour may negatively affect a prey's birth rate. Evidence of such indirect predator effects on prey demography remains scarce in birds and mammals despite invertebrate and aquatic studies that suggest ignoring such effects risks profoundly underestimating the total impact of predators. We report the first experimental demonstration of indirect pred...

Wild aquatic birds are recognized as the natural reservoir of avian influenza A viruses (AIV), but across high and low pathogenic AIV strains, scientists have yet to rigorously identify most competent hosts for the various subtypes. We examined 11,870 GenBank records to provide a baseline inventory and insight into patterns of global AIV subtype diversity and richness. Further, we conducted an ...

Qinghai Lake is a major migrating bird breeding site that has experienced several recent highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) epizootics. From 2006 to 2009 we studied Qinghai's wild birds and pikas for evidence of AIV infections. We sampled 941 healthy wild animals and isolated seventeen H7N2 viruses (eight from pikas and nine from wild birds). The H7N2 viruses were phylogenetically ...

The Great Salt Lake ecosystem is widely recognized to be unique and to have very high environmental and commercial value. Great Salt Lake is recognized regionally, nationally, and hemispherically for its extensive wetlands, and its tremendous and often unparalleled values to migratory birds. These values are derived from the lake’s unique physical features, including its immense size, dynamic w...

It has long been assumed that the resistant eggs of many zooplankton are able to survive passage through the gut of migratory waterbirds, thus facilitating their dispersal between isolated aquatic habitats. We present the first evidence that such passive internal transport within birds may be relevant for insect populations. In three out of six faecal samples from black-tailed Godwits on autumn...

Wild birds are important to public health because they carry emerging zoonotic pathogens, either as a reservoir host or by dispersing infected arthropod vectors. In addition, bird migration provides a mechanism for the establishment of new endemic foci of disease at great distances from where an infection was acquired. Birds are central to the epidemiology of West Nile virus (WNV) because they ...

Avian influenza A virus (an orthomyxovirus) is a zoonotic pathogen with a natural reservoir entirely in birds. The influenza virus genome is an 8-segment single-stranded RNA with high potential for in situ recombination. Two segments code for the hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) antigens used for host-cell entry. At present, 16 H and 9 N subtypes are known, for a total of 144 possible di...