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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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31.05
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| By 27 May snow disappeared in the Naryan_Mar city area, the flood period was already over and ice remained only on large lakes, which all evidenced early spring. Snow was also absent on 31 May in the study area in the northeastern part of the Kolokolkova Bay. Major snowfalls did not occur in June, and mean monthly air temperature (+7.8øC) was the highest for the last 4 years. Cold weather established from 27 June, and generally continued until the end of observations on 13 August, despite short-term periods of warming (a maximum of +35.2øC was reached on 11 July). Summer was rainy (rains occured on 21 day of 73), windy, with strong thunderstorms and frequent fogs.
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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: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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According to reports of local people the first Barnacle Geese appeared on 14 May and Brent Geese on 26 May, while mass migration of geese occured on 29May. One more wave of the Brent Goose migration we recorded on 9 June after start of observations on 1 June. Goose migration terminated on 10 June. The first nests of Barnacle Geese appeared on 29 May in the colony on dunes with vegetation.
Strong winds from the sea caused flooding of a part of the Barnacle Geese colony on lowland seaside marshes, but contrary to similar events in 2005 the consequencies were not catastrophic 2006.
Arctic Foxes and avian rodent-specialists were not seen, also in the tundra areas adjacent to dunes.
Five pairs of Arctic Skuas bred, and predation pressure of this species, gulls and White-tailed Sea Eagles on breeding Barnacle Geese can be evaluated as low to average. Nest success (proportion of nests with at least one chick hatched) was 86%. The mean (ñSE) clutch size was 4.19ñ0.04 (n=1094) eggs, and the mean brood size just after hatching was 2.7ñ0.04 (n=1002) goslings. The total number of nests of Barnacle Geese was about 1490 on the mainland of the study area and 1095 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 Anser albifrons was very high and reached 25 nests/km2 locally. The mean clutch size was 4.25ñ0.175 (n=46) eggs, and 80% (n=50) of nests were successful. Three nesting birds were killed by a White-tailed Sea Eagle in a small area.
Although there was no targeted search for nests of waders and ducks, breeding success was considered relatively high in these birds judging by records of nests and broods. This could be due to favourable weather conditions and relatively weak predation pressure. We recorded 8 broods of Red-throated Diver, 6 broods of Long-tailed Duck and 3 broods of Teal. Generally breeding conditions in 2006 were favourable for birds.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Numbers of rodents were low, and voles were relatively abundant only in Tobseda settlement, as in the previous years.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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