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RESPONDENT
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Konstantin Litvin
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SITE NAME
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Kolokolkova Guba coast, Tobseda settlement, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| +7(499)135-9802/+7(499)135-9802(f) // bird.ring.rus@gmail.com; kelitvin@gmail.com // Bird Ringing Centre, Moscow, 117312, Russia
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Studies of Barnacle Goose ecology on coastal marshes
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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26.05
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18.08
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8
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| Spring was unusually early. Snow completely melted in the Naryan-Mar area on 24 May, and ice remained only on large lakes. Snow cover reduced to 10% in the study area on 27 May and completely melted on 29 May. The sea ice has started to recede on 28 May, and Kolokolkova Bay was ice-free by 5 June. Mean daily air temperature consistently rised above freezing on 5 June. No heavy snowfalls occurred in June, but temperatures fell from 14-21 June and from 28 June-7 July. Warm weather established from 12 July, although rains were frequent and occasionally turned into pelting shower, with thunderstorm, once with hail. The highest air temperature +26øC was recorded on 27 July.
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
<26.05
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
<23.05
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
29.05
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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 and avian rodent-specialists were not recorded in tundra adjacent to the dunes. Kestrel and Hawk Owl were observed near the settlement for several days in mid August.
First Barnacle Geese appeared in the area on 18 May according to reports by locals. Daily observations of migration were started on 27 May, and approximately 20000 Brent Geese and 1500 Barnacle Geese were recorded on this day. The second wave of migration occurred on 1 June in Brent Geese and on 6 June in Barnacle Geese. Migration of these two species terminated by 8 June.
The first nests of Barnacle Geese were found in the colony in dunes on 27 May, and the mean date of clutch initiation was 7 June. Breeding conditions were generally unfavourable. Unlike the previous years an Arctic Fox was brought to the colony area on sea ice, and we observed him destroying geese nests on 3 June. A remains of 2 Barnacle Geese killed by fox were found on 8 June. The Arctic Fox was moved away from the colony on 23 June with the aid of a dog. Spring tide coincided with strong northwestern wind on 26-27 June, and hundreds of nests of Barnacle Geese, Herring Gulls and Glaucous Gulls at low coastal marshes were flooded; thousands of egges were casted ashore by waves.
Predation pressure of gulls, Arctic Skuas and White-tailed Sea Eagles on Barnacle Geese can be evaluated as low to average. Nest success (proportion of nests with at least one chick hatched) was about 43%. The mean clutch size was 3.97ñ0.05 (n=552) eggs, and the mean brood size just after hatching was 2.46ñ0.06 (n=442) goslings. The total number of nests of Barnacle Geese was about 1000 on the mainland of the study area (exact count was impossible after flooding) and 1175 on the islands in the northern part of the Kolokolkova Bay. Favourable conditions prevailed during the brood-rearing period. Non-breeders and failed-breeders regained their ability to fly after moult in early August, and broods fledged from mid August.
As in other years nesting density of White-fronted Geese was very high and reached 28 nests/km2 locally. The mean clutch size was 4.0ñ0.3 (n=43) eggs, nests success 72% (n=36).
Although nests of waders and ducks were not searched for specially, wbreeding success was low in waders and very low in ducks, judging by records of broods. This could be due to prolonged period of cold weather in June and impact of Arctic Fox predation at the local dune area.
As in the previous years reproduction of waterfowl in the area was adversely affected by hunting in the beginning of the breeding period.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Rodent numbers were low in tundra areas adjacent to dunes, with the exception of Tobseda settlement where rodent were more abundant.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
| Observations have been carried out on migration of White-fronted, Brent and Barnacle geese. Intensive searches of nests of geese and ducks were carried out. All species of birds were recorded daily. In total more than 800 nests of Barnacle Geese, swans, geese, waders, ducks and Arctic Terns in the colony were surveyed and their positions mapped.
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