SummaryWe analyse the causes of mortality for the Bearded Vulture in Europe. Shooting (31%), intentional poisoning (26%), collision (18%) and unintentional poisoning (12%) were the most important causes of mortality. No differences were found between sexes or age classes (nonadults and adults) for any of the causes of death. When the four main categories of mortality were grouped in periods of 3 years from 1986 (coinciding with the species' reintroduction to the Alps) to 2006, mortality showed significant temporal variation. The results suggest that while the number of collision/electrocution deaths has remained stable or increased slightly, the number of cases of shooting has declined during the last 6 years, while at the same time intentional and unintentional poisonings have increased. We found substantial differences between causes of mortality recorded for birds located by chance (75% related to shootings and collisions with powerlines) and radio-tagged birds (86% related to intentional and unintentional poisoning), suggesting biases in methodology for monitoring mortality. The results suggest that human persecution continues to be the main factor contributing to unnatural mortality for European Bearded Vultures. Future management actions should concentrate on the creation of protocols for the collection of carcasses and detailed analyses to determine and mitigate anthropogenic sources of mortality.

A total of 211 poisoning incidents registered over the period 1990-2007 and affecting 294 Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) were studied to address the impact of poison-related mortality in the Spanish population. Poison-related mortality mainly affected the birds on an individual level, with low numbers of individuals being found in each incident (mean 1.39) with 94.9% being adults. Deaths were largely recorded (81.8%) during the breeding season, with mortality peaking during May and June (52.1%). In contrast with other raptor species, a high proportion of adult individuals (74.2%) were found in the nest or its surroundings. Age-related differences in the poisoning rate are probably related with different feeding and behavioral strategies between age classes. The illegal use of poison to control predators was the main cause of mortality (93.8%), and particularly in small hunting reserves (74.9%), since the kind of food resources that adults exploit are coincident with the type of baits employed to illegally control predators and the preferred habitat coincides with areas of small game hunting. Our results suggest that poisoning is probably one of the main causes of Egyptian vulture mortality in Spain. The eradication of the illegal use of poisoning and supplementary feeding in specific territories to provide safe food seems priority for its conservation.

A survey was carried out to investigate incidents of pesticide poisoning of the Cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) in Spain during the period 1990-2006. A total of 241 incidents affecting 464 vultures were investigated to establish their causes: approved use, misuse, or deliberate abuse. Other factors studied were compounds, other species affected by the incident, the mode of application, spatial and temporal variation and reasons for the pesticide abuse involved. Approved use was responsible for only a minor fraction (1.3%) of the incidents whereas up to 98% of the investigated incidents were intentional poisonings. Pesticide mortality mainly affects adult individuals (83%) and the implications of this for population dynamics could be important. Eleven different compounds were involved in these incidents although three compounds accounted for up to 88% of the poisoning cases: carbofuran, aldicarb, and strychnine. Most of the pesticide kills seem to be related to the illegal control of predators. Given the minor impact of labeled-use pesticides, currently approved pesticide use does not represent a problem for the Cinereous vulture. Nevertheless, availability of highly toxic pesticides may exacerbate illegal use. As a few compounds, mainly granular insecticides, are responsible for most pesticide kills, stronger regulation and control of these in the EU could result in a decrease of mortality related to pesticide abuse in several endangered species without a significant effect on agriculture.

Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic intracellular protozoan parasite of worldwide distribution that infects many species of warm-blooded animals, including birds. To date, there is scant information about the seropositivity of T. gondii and the risk factors associated with T. gondii infection in wild bird populations. In the present study, T. gondii infection was evaluated on sera obtained from 1079 wild birds belonging to 56 species (including Falconiformes (n = 610), Strigiformes (n = 260), Ciconiiformes (n = 156), Gruiformes (n = 21), and other orders (n = 32), from different areas of Spain. Antibodies to T. gondii (modified agglutination test, MAT titer ≥1∶25) were found in 282 (26.1%, IC95%:23.5–28.7) of the 1079 birds. This study constitute the first extensive survey in wild birds species in Spain and reports for the first time T. gondii antibodies in the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), short-toed snake-eagle (Circaetus gallicus), Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus), Western marsh-harrier (Circus aeruginosus), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), long-eared owl (Asio otus), common scops owl (Otus scops), Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), white stork (Ciconia ciconia), grey heron (Ardea cinerea), common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus); in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) “vulnerable” Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti), lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) and great bustard (Otis tarda); and in the IUCN “near threatened” red kite (Milvus milvus). The highest seropositivity by species was observed in the Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo) (68.1%, 98 of 144). The main risk factors associated with T. gondii seropositivity in wild birds were age and diet, with the highest exposure in older animals and in carnivorous wild birds. The results showed that T. gondii infection is widespread and can be at a high level in many wild birds in Spain, most likely related to their feeding behaviour.

colony have so far been found dead. Five pups present at the onset of the event were clinically healthy and still alive at the time of writing, even though four of their mothers had died. This mortality pattern is inconsistent with other recent morbillivirus outbreaks in aquatic mammals, in which juveniles were more severely affected than adults 2,3 .Most of the seals died at sea, and 14 of the fresher carcasses were analysed. Our observations of these carcasses, together with behavioural observations of terminally ill animals, showed that the seals were in a good nutritional state, with no pulmonary emphysema or gross lesions in evidence.The seals' lungs were congested and their lungs and airways were filled with fluid. The terminally ill animals also exhibited clinical signs of lethargy, motor incoordination and paralysis in the water: animals floated horizontally, apparently paralysed and incapable of effective voluntary movement, although still breathing and not undergoing convulsions or respiratory distress. The period between the onset of clinical signs and the death of the seals was short. These conditions are consistent with drowning caused by paralysis due to poisoning.Osterhaus et al., who isolated the morbillivirus in affected seals 1 , presented no histopathological data. However, we carried out histopathological examination of lung and other tissues (S. Kennedy, personal communication) from the 14 fresh carcasses, and found no indication of typical morbillivirus lesions. In particular, there was no evidence of primary viral damage or secondary opportunistic infections in lung tissue, which are hallmarks of morbillivirus infections in other aquatic mammal species 4 .We analysed eight water samples collected from near the colony during the mortality event, and identified three species of toxic dinoflagellates (Alexandrium minutum, Gymnodinium catenatum and Dinophysis acuta). A. minutum was by far the most abundant dinoflagellate (2,000 to 16,500 cells per litre). We successfully isolated and cultured it at the Vigo laboratories. We did not succeed in obtaining cultures from G. catenatum and D. acuta.We analysed tissues from eight dead seals, 18 fish collected in the feeding grounds and ten composite bivalve samples, using mouse bioassays and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to search for paralytic toxins. (Our complete procedures, and results from phycological and toxicological studies, will be published elsewhere.) Mouse bioassays performed by the AOAC 5 method yielded results below and close to the detection limit (30-40 µg saxitoxin (STX) equivalents per 100 g of tissue) in six seal samples and positive results in two fish (Diplodus sargus and Dicentrarchus punctatus). The symptoms observed in the mice were consistent with the effects of paralytic toxins, but all the bivalve samples were negative by mouse bioassay.Using reverse-phase HPLC with postcolumn reaction and fluorometric detection 6 (detection limit from 0.25 µg for decarbamoyl saxitoxin (dcSTX) to 5.0 µg for neosaxitoxin (NeoS...