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RESPONDENT
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Vladimir Morozov
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SITE NAME
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Schuchya River, middle reaches, Yamal Peninsula, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (495)1553044 // piskulka@mtu-net.ru // Shebashevski Proezd, 7-16, Moscow, 125315, Russia
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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: |
| Owing to the long warm spells in late April and early May the tundra was mostly free of snow by late May. Nevertheless the highest water level in the Schuchya river was achieved on 6-8 June and ice on lakes was finally gone only after 20 June. The spring was prolonged and generally cold; extensive warm spells of May and early June, when the temperature reached +23^C were followed (after 10 June) by a two-week cold stretch with daily snowstorms, gale-strong winds and night frosts. Daily temperatures did not exceed +6^C. The water level on the river during spring floods was average. The summer turned out to be cold and wet: in July there were no more than 7 sunny days, hurricane-strong winds and prolonged torrential rains were a common occurrence. Only the month of August was warmer and drier than the rest of the season.
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
late May
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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No Arctic or Red Foxes Vulpes vulpes were seen and their dens were empty. A very few Rough-legged Buzzard pairs attempted breeding and none fledged young. Hen Harriers did not nest. Large numbers of Long-tailed and Arctic Skuas were moving about tundra in small groups in June and July with almost no nesting attempts (the only known Long-tailed Skua nest was destroyed by a Herring Gull). Few gulls nested and even in those that hatched young, some chicks subsequently died from emaciation. No Snowy Owls were seen; two Short-eared Owls were noted during migration. Breeding densities of Hooded Crows Corvus cornix and Ravens C. corax nesting in the wooded valley of the Schuchya river were as usual.
If compared with the previous years most waders had rather patchy distribution and low population numbers. Bar-tailed Godwit, Red-necked Phalarope, Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minima, Pintail Snipe and Ruff were especially rare. Only European Golden-Plovers had a high breeding density. In June and July one could regularly see moving flocks of non-breeding European Golden-Plovers and Bar-tailed Godwits. In some locales in the Schuchya river valley all Golden-Plover and Whimbrel clutches were destroyed by Hooded Crows. Judging from the pellets and food remains of Hooded Crows, the Wood Sandpiper and Pintail Snipe nests also suffered high predation rates. In the watershed areas many wader clutches were taken by skuas. The weather also had a negative effect on breeding of waders because the instances of heaviest snowstorms, below freezing temperatures, cold showers, and storms took place during the egg-laying stage, early incubation (2-3rd weeks of June) and the start of the hatching period (first half of July). As a result numbers of brood-attending adults of all species of waders except for the European Golden-Plover, Ringed Plover and Wood Sandpiper were very low. In July and August only 1-2 broods of Whimbrel, Ruff, Pintail and Common Snipes were seen. It can be concluded that the overall breeding success in most waders was very low.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Lemmings were not seen and their remnants not found in raptor pellets and food remnants. Narrow-skulled and Northern Red-backed Voles Clethrionomys rutilus were only trapped in river valleys: very locally, in areas of suboptimal (temporary) habitat.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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