Conservation of migrants on their breeding grounds

This paper addresses the question of how to diagnose the causes of a population decline of a migratory bird so that conservation action can be taken. Diagnosis may be through study of habitats or population factors. Different approaches are illustrated with examples from the more threatened migratory species which breed in Europe. Gaps in knowledge of how to make conservation diagnoses and of the circumstances of some of Europe's few migratory and globally endangered birds are shown.