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SITE NAME
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Sibiryakova Island, southern coast, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| Spring was earlier than normal, and by 19 June the vast majority of the tundra was free from snow cover. However lakes were still frozen and snow remained in river valleys. The ice cover on the Kara Sea broke up around 5-10 July. Weather was favourable throughout the relatively warm, though rainy, breeding season. There were no snow-storms during incubation, but it rained heavily during the hatching period of Dunlin and first peak of Little Stint (around 7 July). Weather was generally suitable during the whole chick-rearing period, and there were several warm (over +20øC), sunny days after 20 July.
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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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| The clutches of the Pomarine Skua, which do not breed when lemmings are scarce, may however suggest that lemmings were locally abundant. Very few Arctic Foxes were present in the study area, most probably as a result of heavy hunting at this vicinity during the preceding winter. As a result, egg-losses resulted mostly from trampling by domestic Reindeer and predation by skuas and gulls. Overall the season was good for waders. Nest success of the most abundant species, Grey Plover, Little Stint and Turnstone, was as high as 80%-90%. Consequently, considerable numbers of juvenile waders (mainly the Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint) were observed on the tundra and coast from early August.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Lemmings were certainly rare in terms of visual observation.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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