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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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17.06
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17.08
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3
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
Snow accumulation was low in winter 2003/2004, and spring was early, according to reports of local residents. At arrival on 17.06 snow already melted, tundra aquired green aspect and rivers dried out after flowing during snow melt.
Summer was exeptionally warm and very dry. First half of June was, probably, relatively dry, while second half of the month was rainy. July was unusually warm and sunny, with air temperatures reaching +20-24øC on some days. Rains were rare in July, and coastal tundra became considerably drier. Generally, July in 2004 was even warmer than in 2002, being equally dry. The first half of August was rainy, as usual, but the weather remained very warm, with temperatures above +9øC at night and in the range of +12-16øC at day time. Strong winds rarely occurred in 2004: a single day-long storm was recorded on 15.08.
Mosquitoes were first noted on 18.06, and they became numerous on 20.06. In the previous years mosquitoes appeared en masse on 7.07.2000, 15.07.2001, 25.06.2002 and 27.06.2003. Flying juveniles of Snow Buntings and Lapland Buntings were recorded on 26.06 and 1.07, respectively.
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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 Fox was numerous as usual, and bred successfully. Avian rodent-specialists were almost absent from the island, as in the previous years. Rough-legged Buzzards and Snowy Owls were not seen during my stay on the island from 17.06-17.08, but Lisa Sheffield and Ian Rose reported Snowy Owl in the Savonga vicinity in late August. Pomarine and Arctic skuas were rarely seen despite the abundance of voles. Long-tailed Skuas were seen almost daily, although they did not nest in the Savonga settlement vicinity. Occasionally this species was seen in flocks of up to 10 birds, however, its abundance was lower than in 2000 when these birds were numerous in the Savonga vicinity. As in 2003 Long-tailed Skuas practiced klepto-parasitism in auklet colonies (primarily on Least Auklets), a behaviour which has not been observed before 2003 in this skua species on the island.
Among waders breeding was confirmed in Pacific Golden Plovers, Dunlins, Western Sandpipers and Grey Phalaropes, while Rock Sandpipers and Red-necked Phalaropes were likely breediners based on behaviour of adult birds. Dunlins and Rock Sandpipers occurred in similar to 2002-2003 numbers, based on the visual evaluation. Turnstones did not nest, and similarly to 2003 nesting of Pectoral Sandpipers and Long-billed Dowitchers was not recorded. Migration of waders was not intensive prior to my departure on 17.08. Migrating Pectoral Sandpipers appeared only in mid August and in very low numbers, presumably due to low tundra humidity. Rock Sandpipers were not numerous migrants also.
Nesting of Kittiwakes and murres was the earliest on record for 5 years of our studies on the island. First chicks of Kittiwakes were recorded on the permanent plots on 5.07, while probable hatching dates were 2-3.07 there, and 29-30.06 in other colonies of the island, based on the age of surveyed chicks. First chicks in Kittiwakes hatched on 9.07 in 2000, on 12-14.07 in 2002 and on 7-8.07 in 2003. Hatching started in Thick-billed Murres on 9.07 in 2004, compared with 22.07 in 2000 and 2002, 23-24.07 in 2001 and 13.07 in 2003, while in Common Murres it occurred on 13.07 in 2004, 28.07 in 2000, 27-28.07 in 2001, 26.07 in 2002 and 17.07 in 2003. Hatching occurred in usual dates in auklets on 22.07 in Crested Auklet (compared with 24.07 in 2002 and 21.07 in 2003), and 19.07 in Least Auklets (compared with 18.07 or slightly earlier in 2002 and 20.07 the latest in 2003).
Breeding was successful for Common and Thick-billed murres, Crested and Least auklets in 2004 (exact data are available from U.S. Fish & WIldlife Service). Breeding success was high in Kittiwakes, although lower than in 2003: 44.7% of laid eggs produced fledglings compared with 51.4% in 2003 and 18% in 2002. High survival of chicks in 2004 was likely related to good feeding conditions for Kittiwakes, despite unusually warm weather.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| As in the previous years Tundra Voles were very numerous on the island, occurring in similar to 2003 numbers. However, Northern Red-backed Vole was considerably less abundant in 2004 than in 2003. Lemmings were not seen, although records of Greenland Lemmings were reported in literature.
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Rodent species recorded:
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| Latin | Abundance |
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| Microtus oeconomus | abundant |
| Clethrionomys rutilus | common |
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
| Kittiwakes, Creasted and Least auklets and murres were in the focus of seabird numbers and productivity monitoring, ordered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Project.
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