Serbian IBA inventory launched

The first detailed inventory of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Serbia was launched on 21 September 2009. This comprehensive and beautifully illustrated book was published by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, the Provincial Secretariat for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, and the Institute for Protection of Nature of Serbia, with significant contributions from the League for Ornithological Action of Serbia and the Bird Protection and Study Society of Vojvodina. It describes 42 IBAs, covering 14% of the country’s area, where priority action is needed to conserve biodiversity and to ensure long-term management and monitoring.

Birds more at risk; world failing in conservation

* Endangered bird list grows slightly in 2009

* Sign governments failing to slow biodiversity loss

(Reuters) - The list of birds threatened with extinction has grown fractionally; a new sign that governments are failing to meet a 2010 global conservation goal, an annual review of birds showed on Thursday.

A 2009 "Red List" added birds including the newly discovered gorgeted puffleg -- a bright-coloured Colombian hummingbird -- the Sidamo lark in Ethiopia and a Galapagos finch to the worst category of "critically endangered".

"Despite government commitments to slow biodiversity loss, things are getting a little worse every year," said Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of the species programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature which runs the list.

Vie told Reuters that a few species were taken off threatened lists after successful conservation. Overall, the number of threatened birds grew by one since 2008 to 1,227 -- 12 percent of all species.

And 192 species were rated "critically endangered", up two overall from 2008. Nine were added to the category and seven taken out, most of them eased to "endangered".

Governments agreed in 2002 to make a "significant reduction" in the rate of biodiversity losses of animals and plants by 2010 -- from threats such as destruction of habitats from expanding farms or cities and the impact of climate change.

Vie said a hidden problem was that many common birds were getting less frequent in the skies but were not yet rated endangered. "There are groups you don't see any more in large numbers -- such as swifts, larks, swallows," he said.

Adriatic Flyway Conference

Nine ornithologists from Serbia – members of League for Ornithological Action of Serbia, Bird Protection and Study Society of Vojvodina and Ecological Research Society ‘Mladen Karaman’ – have participated at the Conference on Eastern-Adriatic migration pathway ‘Adriatic Flyway’, held in Ulcinj in period April 14th-17th 2009. The Conference was organized by the foundation Euronatur from Germany.

The goal of this conference was to improve knowledge on bird migration pathway that leads across the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy and Sicily to North Africa. Many species fly directly over the Adriatic Sea, so the resting places before and after this flight become extremely important, especially the wetland habitats on both sides of Adriatic. The challenges and threats to migrating birds in this region were also discussed.