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Full text Welcome to Tartu 6th International Swan Symposium Main building of Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, Tartu, Estonia: 16–19 October 2018. We warmly welcome you to Tartu for the 6th International Swan Symposium, hosted jointly by the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the Estonian Ornithological Society, and co-organised with the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust from the UK. We sincerely thank our Partners and Sponsors for their support of the meeting. e International Swan Symposium is a truly international event, which continues a series of meetings of the Wetlands International/IUCN-SSC Swan Specialist Group (SSG) held over the past 45 years. e SSG is a global network of swan specialists working on the monitoring, research, conservation and management of swan populations. In particular, it aims to facilitate e ective communication, and to transfer of knowledge and best practice, between SSG members and others with an interest in swan management and conservation. Previous international symposia of the Wetlands International/IUCN-SSC Swan Specialist Group have been held at Slimbridge (UK, 1971), Sapporo (Japan, 1980), Oxford (UK, 1989), Virginia (USA, 2001), and Maryland (USA, 2014). Information about these meetings and the SSG’s recent activities are available on the group’s website at http://www.swansg.org/. In 2018, the 6th International Swan Symposium will be held from 16–19 October in the main building of Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu, Estonia. e symposium aims to share knowledge on swans from across the globe, with information presented on their biology, habitats, population dynamics, census techniques, monitoring, management and conservation. A workshop on the implementation of the AEWA International Single Species Action Plan for the conservation of the Bewick’s Swan is scheduled for the last day of the meeting. We have excellent speakers from Eurasia and America, with 36 oral presentations and 12 posters covering a variety of swan species. We anticipate more than 80 delegates from 17 countries, and have planned a full itinerary for your visit. We hope that you will take this opportunity to discover Tartu, which is a second largest city in Estonia with populated of 100,000 people. It is a historical Hanseatic city and a main university town. Dating back to 1030, it is the oldest city in Estonia. We encourage you to visit the University of Tartu’s main building, the Town Hall Square, Toome Hill, the Estonian National Museum and St John’s Church, which is a famous for its thousands of medieval terracotta gures. We look forward to seeing our old friends and meeting new ones. Welcome! Leho Luigujõe Estonian University of Life Sciences Eileen C. Rees Wildfowl and Wetland Trust Margus Ots Estonian Ornithological Society

SummaryThe White-breasted GuineafowlAgelastes meleagridesis one of 15 bird species endemic to the Upper Guinea Forests of West Africa. The Taï region in southwestern Côte d'Ivoire probably holds one of the largest remaining populations of this species. We assessed population density in two different sectors in the southern part of Taï National Park and one sector in the N'Zo Faunal Reserve, north of the National Park. The sectors differ in rainfall patterns and hence vegetation type, as well as in previous and past levels of logging and hunting. Line transect surveys were undertaken between 2000 and 2001 with an overall survey effort of 2,883 km. Abundance was highest in the sector with the driest forest type, the N'Zo Faunal Reserve (encounter rate: 0.02 detections km−1, density: 32.9 ind. km−2), where we also observed the largest group recorded for the species so far (38 individuals). The species was almost absent in the southeast of Taï National Park (encounter rate: −1), where the impact of poaching on wildlife is strongest. The study confirms that the species reaches highest densities in drier forests and only occurs in smaller numbers in the wetter south of the Taï region. Our data also suggest that past disturbance from logging does not constitute an obstacle for its persistence. The population size in Taï National Park and N'Zo Faunal Reserve should be between 42,000 and 120,000 individuals.