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SITE NAME
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Medusa Bay, Taimyr Peninsula, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| 31 255 564 660/31 255 564 644 // Ingrid.Tulp@wur.nl // Netherlands Institute for Fisheries Research (RIVO) P.O. Box 68, 1970 AB IJmuiden, The Netherlands
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Medusa Bay 2001
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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5.06
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10.08
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10
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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| Season phenology: |
average
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Weather conditions: |
| Upon arrival a large part (>80%) of the study area was still covered in snow. Also the snow layer was much thicker than last year. Because June was much warmer than normal snow melted rapidly and reached the 50% level on 11 June and the 10% level on 16 June. Medusa river started flowing on 11 June. June was warm with mean temperature of 4øC and maximum temperature up to 15øC. Most of the days were sunny with constant, often strong, winds from the northeast. On two days it rained for long periods. Snow was recorded only on one day in June. The first half of July was also warm, whereafter temperatures dropped. Rain was recorded on many days and especially the last week of July and the first days of August were very wet. Compared to 2000 the season was much wetter in general.
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
11 June
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
11 June
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
17 June
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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Due to thick snow cover early June the season was expected to be late, but the warm start of June made the snow disappear fast resulting in an average phenology. The peak in arthropod abundance occurred in the second and third week of July.
Several rough-legged Buzzard pairs started breeding but either abandoned their clutch or their nests were predated; only in one nest chicks hatched successfully, but it is not known whether they fledged. An Arctic Fox regularly visited the area at night only. Due to the fact that nests were hardly ever scent-marked, it took until the first nocturnal fox observation before we realised that probably most predation of nests was caused by a fox and not only by skuas as we had assumed. Long-tailed Skua bred and hatched successfully on the mainland.
At the nearby rivers Efremova, Maximovka and Lemberova Peregrine Falcons were breeding and hatched successfully, and a few pairs of Red-breasted Geese and White-fronted Geese bred in their vicinity. Some of the White-fronted Geese hatched successfully on the mainland, and presumably, fledged. No hatching of Brent Geese was observed on mainland.
Taimyr Gulls, Glaucous Gulls and Arctic Terns bred on the nearby islands and hatched successfully. Among nests of White-fronted Geese, Brent Geese and one Red-breasted Goose pair on the islands most failed due to predation, egg and down collecting, but still some nests of Brent Goose likely hatched and fledged (not confirmed though).
Waders were present in numbers comparable to previous years. The species community differed from other years in that there were more different species breeding in the area: Pectoral Sandpiper (>12). Red Phalarope (3), Ruff (>3) and Dotterel (2). Unusual for this study area was the high occurrence of Pectoral Sandpipers. Red-throated Pipits were much more abundant, than in previous years. For all birds breeding success was low, but higher than in 2000. Although special care was taken in approaching and marking nests (using GPS), we are convinced that field activities influenced predation. Apart from predation by Arctic Foxes, skuas and Snowy Owls, a passing herd of 1000 Reindeer (within the 4km2 area) also caused some nest losses (either by predation or desertion). Hatching probabilities (using Mayfield method) were: Pacific Golden Plover 8% (n=25); Ringed Plover 76% (n=3); Dotterel 2% (n=2); Turnstone 6% (n=7); Red Phalarope 58% (n=4); Little Stint 18% (n=93); Temminck's Stint 99% (n=2); Pectoral Sandpiper 32% (n=12); Dunlin 24% (n=25); Curlew Sandpiper 9% (n=19); Ruff 0,5% (n=2). Dunlins, Ringed Plovers and Pacific Golden Plovers laid replacement clutches, Curlew Sandpipers and Pectoral Sandpipers did not.
In late July/early August a large number of fledged young Little Stints, Dunlin and Pectoral Sandpipers and Curlew Sandpipers passed through the area.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Lemmings were absent: in the whole season only two Siberian Lemmings were seen.
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Rodent species recorded:
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| Latin | Abundance |
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| Lemmus sibiricus | rare |
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
| Detailed studies of abundance and breeding success of all bird species were carried out in the breeding bird monitoring project of WIWO (Leon Peters & Oscar Langevoord). A basic report incorporating most different shorebird studies is currently written and expected to be ready late 2001.
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