With their long downcurved bills and distinctive call (“cur-loo”), curlews are among the most recognizable of all wading birds. But these large, long-lived shorebirds are also among the most threatened migratory birds on Earth: Two of eight curlew species have not been seen for decades and, tragically, may well be extinct (the Eskimo and the Slender-billed Curlew). Another three (the Eurasian, the Bristle-thighed, and the Far Eastern) are listed as being of conservation concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

From 19 to 23 March 2018, the 3rd Adriatic Flyway Conference took place in Fruška Gora National Park, Serbia, organized by EuroNatur and the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia (BPSSS, BirdLife Serbia). At this meeting, Officials of the Government of Serbia and more than 80 experts and affiliates of Bird Conservation NGOs from central and south-eastern European countries presented and discussed recent findings on the monitoring of migratory bird populations, their conservation status, ecological dynamics and their habitats in the Adriatic Flyway region.

The 18th International Wildlife Law Conference is taking place from 18 to 19 April 2018 in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The conference is being organized by Tilburg University’s Department of European and International Public Law in partnership with the Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy of Stetson University College of Law, USA. Participants are drawn from a wide range of professional fields associated with conservation, including lawyers, policymakers and scientists and from all corners of the world with Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Australia all represented.

BirdLife South Africa announced exciting news last Saturday reporting the important discovery of only the second breeding site in the world for the Critically Endangered White-winged Flufftail (Sarothrura ayresi) and the first ever in South Africa. Previously, the only known breeding site was in the Berga wetland of Ethiopia, leading ornithologists to believe that the species was a non-breeding visitor to South Africa, with some mystery surrounding how it covered the 4,000 km distance between the two countries.