In accordance with the Soviet-American collaboration program on influenza and ARD, cooperative field studies were undertaken in 1975 in the USSR in order to test the field and laboratory methods for studies on influenza virus ecology. In the Rostov region of the USSR, virological and serological examinations of 321 birds of 25 species were carried out. Virological tests were performed with 678 biological specimens and in various serological tests 308 blood serum specimesn from wild birds were examined. Examinations of specimens of washings and organs of birds revealed no hemagglutinating agents. The paper presents the results of studies of avian blood serum specimens in the HI test, neuraminidase activity inhibition test and the immunodiffusion test.