BREEDING CONDITIONS REPORT, 2001


RESPONDENT

Victor Zubakin

SITE NAME

Saint Lawrence Island, Savonga vicinity, USA

Contact details (phone/fax//e-mail//address):
307-78-09(h) // vas@zubakin.msk.ru; zubakin@rbcu.ru // Shosse Entusiastov, 100-2-212, Moscow, 111531, Russia

PROJECT DETAILS

Project name:

Start of survey:

End of survey: Team size:

25.06

2.09


WEATHER CONDITIONS

Season phenology:

Weather conditions:

Huge snowbanks under coastal scurs melted completely only in August, which is indicative of higher snow accumulation during winter compared with the previous year. The period from 25 June to 15 July was colder and more rainy than in 2000, while period from 15 July to 2 September was, probably, slightly warmer than in the previous year. Emergence of mosquitos occurred in the middle of July which is a week later than in 2000.

 

Season temperature: cold
Season humidity:
Date of 50% snow-cover:
Date of ice-break on rivers:
Date of final loss of snow:

BIOTIC CONDITIONS

Rodents abundance evaluation:

average

Breeding conditions:

As in previous year Snowy Owls and Rough-legged Buzzards were never seen in the period of studies. Long-tailed Skuas were notably less abundant than in 2000, but wandering Arctic and Pomarine skuas were common in June-July, while in 2000 two latter species were not recorded. Arctic Foxes, Ravens, Glaucous and Herring gulls were common predators in the sea-side area (coast, stony talus and sea-side tundra).
First chicks in Thick-billed and Common murres appeared on 25 and 29 July, respectively, which did not actually differ from 2000 dates. Hatching in Crested and Least auklets was recorded on 28 and 26 July, which was 2 and 4 days earlier than in 2000. Reproduction in Thick-billed and Common murres and in Crested and Least auklets was successful. In contrast, breeding conditions were extremaly unfavourable for Kittiwakes, which nested in very low numbers, and hatching was recorded in a single nest on 14 August only.
 

Rodent dynamics:

Voles were generally less abundant in tundra than in 2000, but they were still common, in particular Cletrionomys sp. in coastal stony talus and on the shore.

Rodent species recorded:

LatinAbundance

Summary of fauna studies:

Detailed information on reproductive success of seabirds is available from Alaska branch of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

 

FAUNA IN STUDY AREA

Group of speciesPresenceAbundanceBreedingDetailed studiesComment
arctic foxesYesabundantbreeding  
volesYescommon   
buzzardsNo    
skuasYescommon   
pomarine skuasYescommonno  
gulls/ternsYesabundanthatching  
owlsNo    
passerinesYesabundant   
auksYesabundanthatching  

 

SEABIRD COLONIES

speciesComment

 

WATERBIRD NON-BREEDING AGGREGATIONS

speciesAggregation typeNumberComment

 

HUMAN ACTIVITY IN THE STUDY AREA

Human activityComment

 


Recommended citation

Zubakin, V.A. (2001). Breeding conditions report for Saint Lawrence Island, Savonga vicinity, USA, 2001. ARCTIC BIRDS: an international breeding conditions survey. (Online database). Eds. M.Soloviev, P.Tomkovich. . Updated 11 Dec. 2008. Accessed .

 more on citation guidelines

 

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