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RESPONDENT
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Mikhail Soloviev
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SITE NAME
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Bludnaya River mouth, Taimyr, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (495)9394424 // mikhail-soloviev@yandex.ru // Dept. of Vertebrate Zoology, Biological Faculty, Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow, Russia
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Wader Monitoring Project on Taimyr
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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11.06
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9.08
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5
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| Snow cover reduced to 50% on 16 June, while median date for 10 seasons is 11 June. Snow completely melted on level areas on 20 June which is also later than average. Maximal water table was reached on 20 June and floodplain habitats became available for birds on 24 June which is later than in the previous 4 years. Air temperatures rose steeply in the second half of June reaching average of +13.2øC between 16-27 June, but dropped to an average of +7.4øC between 28 June-7 July. The rest of July and the first days of August were moderately warm and slightly wetter than normal. A period of adverse weather from 7-9 August with strong wind, driving rain and occasional snow resulted in unprecedented increase of water table in the river. Generally, weather was favourable for breeding during most of the summer, and chicks in majority of wader nests hatched already after the period of cold weather in the beginning of July. However, adverse weather in the beginning of August should have been devastating for chicks from late broods, which is supported by finding of dead Ruff juveniles on 9 August. In spite of the late snowmelt dates of plant and insect development were average, due, probably, to warm weather in the second half of June.
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
16.06
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
20.06
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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Arctic Foxes did not breed. They were seen on several days in mid June, but became extremely rare afterwards. Among skuas, Pomarine did not breed, while Long-tailed and Arctic skuas nested in their usual low numbers. Rough-legged Buzzards and Peregrine Falcons nested successfully in low numbers.
Nesting of most species occurred in average dates. Estimated densities (in nests/km2) for common species were: Little Stints - 3.9, Grey Phalarope - 31.6, Ruff - 10.3, Dunlin - 15.0, Pectoral Sandpiper - 18.4 and Lapland Bunting - 30.0. Total density of all species of birds (133.3 nest/km2) and density of waders (88.2 nest/km2) on the main plot on river terrace in 2003 were slightly above long-term averages (119.8 and 86.3 nest/km2, respectively). Among waders high nesting density of Grey Phalaropes is notable.
Predators were rare, and nest success of common species was moderate to high: 63.6% in Dunlin (n=22), 62.2% in Pectoral Sandpiper (n=45), 58.3% in Ruff (n=24), 75.6% in Grey Phalarope (n=45), 62.5% in Little Stint (n=8), 54.6% in Pacific Golden Plover (n=11), 88.9% in Lapland Bunting (n=36) and 75.0% in Willow Grouse (n=8). Nest success in 2003 in all species of waders combined was 62.7ñ3.5% (n=193) which exceeds long-term average 47.7%. However, pressure of skuas on chicks was apparently high, and reproductive success of birds was unlikely to exceed average.
Breeding records of Anthus rubescens and Common Scoter in the area expand considerably ranges of these species to the north.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Lemming numbers in 2003 were the lowest on record for 10 seasons. A single under-snow nest was seen on a transect 4.6 km long and 10 m wide, where 33, 7 and 6 nests were recorded in 2000, 2001 and 2002, respectively. Three lemmings seen in June-July by 5 observers, which is also a record low number.
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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: |
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