|
|
RESPONDENT
|
|
Alexander Dmitriev
|
|
|
SITE NAME
|
|
Oleny Island, Kara Sea, Russia
|
|
| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| 8-916-1261511/8-495-2152901(for Dmitriev) // zzu@inbox.ru // Orekhovy bulevar, 16-241, Moscow, Russia
|
|
PROJECT DETAILS |
|
|
|
Start of survey:
|
End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
|
18.07
|
3.08
|
2
|
|
WEATHER
CONDITIONS
|
|
|
|
Weather conditions: |
| Stable warm weather prevailed on the island in the period of studies from 18 July to 3 August. Air temperatures did not drop below +4°C at night, and varied from +6-17°C during day-time. A single day was windless, while moderate north-eastern, less often south-eastern, northern or north-western wind was recorded on other days. Dry weather prevailed at the beginning of the study period, but short-term light rains occurred almost daily after 26 July.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
|
|
| Date of final loss of
snow: |
|
|
BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
|
| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
high
|
|
|
Breeding conditions:
|
Arctic Foxes were common and bred successfully. Lemming bodies were often abundant near fox dens, but remains of chicks were also occasionally found. Thus, 4 chicks of White-fronted Gesse which had been taken by an Arctic Fox were found on 1 August in the central part of the island.
A White-tailed Sea Eagle was seen once, at the south of the island. A Snowy Owl was recorded on 19 July. Pomarine Skuas were common everywhere, but neither nests, nor chicks were found. Rare Arctic Skuas were recorded, but they showed no signs of breeding. Aggregations of 10-30 feeding Long-tailed Skuas were observed everywhere, but territorial pairs of this species were recorded only in the southern part of the island.
Herring Gulls were numerous in the southern part of the island, and we found a nest with chicks near the southern coast on 26 July. Approximately 250 Herring and Glaucous gulls at a ratio 2:1 inhabited Khaleev Island near the shore of the southern coast of the Oleny Island in the Oleny Strait. Glaucous Gulls were common and probably also nested on the bogs of the southern part of the island. Arctic Terns were common on the island, and we found a nest with two chicks in the southern end on 20 July.
Black-throated and Red-throated divers were common; while no nests were found, some pairs of the former species were apparently territorial. Two broods of Brent Geese were observed on 21 July at the upper part of the channel in the southern part of the island, and we found 3 already left nests of this species in a close vicinity to each other on 26 July. With binoculars we counted 52 adult Brent Geese with broods in a colony of approximately 150 Herring and Glaucous gulls on a small island (700?200 m) in the Oleny Strait. At the end of the breeding season 6 nests of White-fronted Geese were found; hatching had not started in one of them on 19 July, and the others contained chicks until 21 July. We counted 57 broods of geese per 7.9 km of small rivers and channels in the western part of the island (7.2 broods/km), and at least 180 broods were counted on 1-3 August in the north-western part of the island in an area of under 29 km? (6.2 broods/km?). Large aggregations of moulting geese were found on 2-3 August on large lakes. Three aggregations of moulting geese, totalling 1000 birds, were recorded along the helicopter route of 20 km in the western part of the island. Long-tailed Ducks probably did not breed but flocks of 10s to 200 birds were recorded on lakes of the island and in the strait. King Eiders were more abundant than Steller's Eiders, and both species were common breeders. Small flocks of both eider species were regularly observed on lakes and channels everywhere on the island.
Waders were represented by 9 species. The status of Bar-tailed Godwit remained unclear. The Ringed Plover and Ruff were rare breeders; the Little Stint, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Dunlin, Red-necked and Grey phalaropes were common and nested. The three species of breeding passerines (the Shorelark, Lapland and Snow buntings) were not numerous, but were still more abundant than in the Mongocheyakha River delta on the mainland.
|
|
|
Rodent dynamics:
|
| Siberian Lemmings were numerous, and we recorded several animals daily.
|
|
Rodent species recorded:
|
| Latin | Abundance |
|---|
| Lemmus sibiricus | abundant |
|
|
|
Summary
of fauna studies: |
|
|
|