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RESPONDENT
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Victor Zubakin
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SITE NAME
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Saint Lawrence Island, Savonga vicinity, USA
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| 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
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Expedition of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on seabird monitoring
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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5.07
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21.08
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3
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| According to reports of local people small amount of snow was accumulated during winter and spring was early, but later than in 2002. Summer was relatively dry and warm, although not as dry and warm as in 2002. Rains were rare in July, while August was rainy as usual. Notable numbers of mosquitoes were observed on 27 June, compared with 7 July in 2000, 15 July in 2001 and 25 June in 2002.
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
high
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Breeding conditions:
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Arctic Foxes were as numerous as in previous years, and bred successfully. Rough-legged Buzzard was never seen, while Snowy Owls inhabit inland areas of the island 15 km southward from Savonga according to reports of innuits. We have never seen alive birds, but found wings and feathers of a juvenile on 15 August. Few records of Peregrine Falcons were made. In contrast with 2002 Pomarine and Arctic skuas were seen very rarely despite high abundance of voles. Long-tailed Skuas were seen almost daily in July and the first half of August, although they likely did not breed in Savonga vicinity. Abundance of Long-tailed Skuas did not reach the level of 2000 when the were numerous, and they practize klepto-parasitism in auklet colonies (primarily on Least Auklets), which behaviour was not observed in this species previously on the island.
Among waders Dunlins, Western Sandpipers and Pacific (?) Golden Povers were proved breeders in Savonga vicinity, while Turnstones, Red-necked and Grey phalaropes presumable bred. Abandance of Dunlins and Western Sandpipers was the same or slightly lower than in 2002, while Turnstones were less abundant according to visual evaluation. Pectoral Sandpipers and Long-billed Dowitchers did not bred in contrast to 2002. Pectoral Sandpipers were more abundant on the autumn migration in 2003 compared with the previous year, probably due to higher humidity of tundra habitats, while Rock Sandpipers were less abundant. Red-throated Pipits were fairly common during autumn migration in 2003 along with Yellow Wagtails. Noteworthy vagrants included Little Stint, Black Guillemot and American Goldfinch.
Seabirds started nesting early in 2003, and first chicks were found in Kittiwakes on 9 July (probably, hatched on 7-8 July) compared with 12-14 July in 2002, in Thick-billed Murres on 13 July vs. 22 July, in Common Murres on 17 July vs. 26 July, in Crested Auklets on 21 July vs. 24 July and in Least Auklets on 20 July the latest vs. 18 July the lates in 2002.
Reproduction was, probably, slightly less successful in 2003 compared with 2002 in Crested and Least auklets. Breeding success of Kittiwakes was the largest for the period 2000-2003, in particular due to high hatching success which was 2.5 times higher in 2003 than in 2002. High hatching success apparently resulted from the absence of breeding Ravens on the colony in 2003, which had been primary predators on eggs in 2002. Increased survival of chicks was, probably, due to good feeding conditions for Kittiwakes in 2003.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| According to visual evaluation Tundra and Northern Red-backed voles were very numerous, even more so than in 2002 (at least Tundra Vole). We have never recorded lemmings on the island, although records of Collared Lemmings were reported in the literature.
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Rodent species recorded:
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| Latin | Abundance |
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| Microtus oeconomus | abundant |
| Clethrionomys rutilus | abundant |
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
| Kittiwakes, Creasted and Least auklets were in the focus of seabird numbers and productivity monitoring. Research was carried out in the framework of the project 02.05-7102 "Studies of northern migratory waterfowl" of the Russia-USA agreement on nature conservation.
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