7th Conference of the European Ornithologists' Union 2009
(21–26 August 2009, Zurich, Switzerland)

The European Ornithologists' Union has been founded as an equal partnership among avian biologists across Europe to provide an international forum for the advancement of European ornithology in all its aspects. The bi-annual conferences provide ideal platforms to get in contact, exchange ideas and disseminate knowledge. The council of the EOU and the local organisers invite you cordially to join the 7th EOU conference to be held at the University of Zurich from 21–26 August 2009.

The conference aims at bringing together the full range of researchers in ecology, behaviour, evolution, physiology, morphology, systematics and conservation biology of birds to exchange ideas and to think about future research projects.

Information on the conference location, accommodation, deadlines, registration fees, are available at  http://www.eou2009.ch/. Information on the Scientific Programme Committee, the general scientific programme, plenary talks and the submission of symposia and papers are provided at  http://www.ucc.ie/en/eou2009/.

25th International Ornithological Congress 2010
(22–28 August 2010, Campos do Jordão, Brazil)

The 25th International Ornithological Congress will be held in Campos do Jordão, Brazil, 22–28 August 2010. For details visit  http://www.i-o-c.org or  http://www.ib.usp.br/25ioc.

Similar to the last IOC meeting, symposia will include two keynote addresses that summarize the global progress of ornithological science in the field over the last four years and address priorities for future research. Other speakers will be chosen by the conveners, with guidance from the SPC, and will include persons who have submitted abstracts identifying the particular symposium they would like to join. This is intended to increase global participation and allow new researchers to contribute to symposia. The call for contributed papers (which will come in early 2009) will include a box that contributors can check if they wish to be considered for specific symposia.

Editorial acknowledgements

The editors are extremely grateful to all those who helped in reviewing the manuscripts during the past few years: T. Alerstam, C. Alonso, B. Arroyo, F. Bairlein, R. Barrett, S. Bauer, P. Becker, A. Beintema, K. Bensusan, J. Bêty, P. Biermann, R. Bijlsma, K. Bildstein, J. Black, C. Both, E. Bourdon, M. Brambilla, T. Bregnballe, V. Bretagnolle, R. Bruintjes, L. Bruinzeel, D. Buehler, A. Bunce, C. Camphuysen, T. Caro, J. Chappell, P. Clausen, Y. Collingham, J. Creuwels, I. Cuthill, L. Dahlbeck, R. de By, M. de Heij, J. de Vries, R. Dekker, J. Delingat, P. den Hartog, A. van der Graaf, J. Dickinson, M. Dietz, D. Dowling, C. Downs, R. Drent, G. Eichhorn, C. Eikenaar, B. Ens, K. Evans, J. Figuerola, M. Foerschler, A. Follestad, E. Folmer, T. Fox, D. Frank, J. Frikke, B. Furness, L. Gavashelishvili, J. Gill, C. Glahder, J. Graveland, C. Green, M. Green, R. Green, L. Griffin, S. Griffith, N. Groen, T. Gunnarsson, M. Harris, M. Häsler, A. Hedenström, S. Henningsson, K. Hirschenhauser, K. Hobson, N. Horrocks, J. Hortal, C. Hübner, J. Hulscher, A. Ingolfsson, R. Jefferies, A. Johnsen, R. Jovani, T. Katzner, I. Kitowski, M. Klaassen, R. Klaassen, D. Kleijn, K. Koffijberg, B. Koks, Z. Kosinski, A. Kotrschal, M. Kovanen, K. Kraaijeveld, K. Krijgsveld, J. Kube, T. Laaksonen, D. Lank, M. Leopold, F. Liechti, P. Lloyd, P. Lourenzo, J. Madsen, M. Maier, M. Mallory, A. Martinoli, J. Melter, L. Mendes, F. Merkel, G. Mikusinski, M. Mönkkönen, W. Montevecchi, J. Moore, G. Morrison, A. Mosbech, R. Nager, S. Nebel, J. Negro, I. Newton, M. Nicolaus, B. Nolet, O. Olsson, R. Ottvall, V. Paiva, D. Parish, J. Perez-Tris, S. Petrie, T. Piersma, D. Pinaud, M. Platteeuw, M. Poot, J. Porkert, E. Postma, J. Prop, U. Rehsteiner, G. Rheinwald, A. Ros, D. Roshier, A. Roulin, B. Rushbrook, G. Ruxton, P. Ryan, L. Sacchi, N. Saino, F. Santoul, G. Scheiffarth, H. Schekkerman, S. Schindler, J. Schmutz, R. Schürch, V. Selås, F. Sergio, L. Serra, B. Shivaji, A. Spaans, B. Spaans, J. Stahl, E. Stienen, P. Sunde, S. Tebbich, W. Teunissen, J.-M. Thiollay, K. Thorup, S. Thyen, J. Tinbergen, T. Tomek, A. Tottrup, Y. Tremblay, C. Trierweiler, P. Tryjanowski, I. Tulp, M. van de Velde, P. van den Hout, H. van der Jeugd, J. van der Winden, J. van Diermen, J. van Franeker, J. van Gils, W. van Manen, K. van Oers, C. van Turnhout, T. Veen, J. Videler, A. Villegas, M. Visser, J. Vlug, B. Voslamber, P. Wiersma, M. Wink, W. Winkel, S. Wirt, J. Wright, L. Zwarts. Furthermore, we thank Maarten Loonen for maintaining the website of Ardea, Jos Zwarts for his drawings on the title pages, Dick Visser for all his work on layout and graphics, Arie Spaans for editing the Dutch summaries, Popko Wiersma for compiling the dissertation reviews, Jacob J. de Vries and Piet van den Hout for managing the distribution of Ardea and administration.

All publications in Ardea from 1912 available

The NOV (the Netherlands Ornithologists' Society), in 1953 to become the NOU, was founded in 1901. From 1904 onwards the society produced “Verslagen en Mededeelingen” (meeting reports and notices) and “Jaarboekjes” (annual reports), followed in 1912 by the journal Ardea. All articles, notes, reviews and meeting reports that have been published in these journals — well over 4000 — are now available as pdf through internet.

The oldest publications cover a wide variety of ornithological studies and observations. For example, papers describing the distribution and population size of species as Black Grouse, Grey Heron, Rook, and White Stork have maintained their ornithological value to date. Meetings and daytrips to different parts of the country were often treated very extensively in reports — luckily to us, as they describe the atmosphere of a time that has gone forever. The earlier publications were written in Dutch, and G.J. van Oordt was the first with his “Ornithological notes from Spitsbergen and Northern Scandinavia, 1921” to publish in English (Ardea 1921). Later ornithologists as G.F. Makkink, J. Verwey, and L. and N. Tinbergen who were seeking a wide readership followed and published their Ardea papers in English. Thus they gave the journal the first push towards the international journal which Ardea would become several decades later. It was not until the 1970s that Ardea became all-English — though reviews were written in Dutch for much longer.

The digitising project has been possible by those who made their books available (Jan Allex de Roos, Jo Rampen, Dick Hoek, Ekko Smith) and by extensive volunteer help (Maarten Loonen, Jouke Prop, Dick Veenendaal, Kees Camphuysen, Rob Bijlsma). The project was financed thanks to a generous gift from Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds.

For the purpose of digitising, all volumes have been scanned and each paper has been converted into a separate pdf which can be downloaded. Finding the papers you are looking for, or browsing the journals is extremely simple. Visit the website of Ardea ( www.ardeajournal.nl) and click on Search. Then depending on the search of interest, click on Year, Volume, Author, or Keyword. Access to publications less than five years old is privileged to members of the NOU and subscribers to Ardea. For any comments and suggestions concerning the project contact webmaster Maarten Loonen or the Ardea office.

Enjoy reading!