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RESPONDENT
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Sergey Paskhalny
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SITE NAME
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Ob' River, lower reaches, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (34992) 5-19-10 // spas2006@yandex.ru // Zelyonaya Gorka, 18-1, Labytnangi, Tumenskaya oblast, 629400, Russia
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Lower Ob' Ornithological Expedition
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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25.05
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27.09
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2
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| A lot of snow was accumulated during winter, the last snowstorms occurred in late May. Spring was late (ice-break on Ob' River near Salehard on 7 June is only 1 day earlier of the latest known date). Summer was cold in the beginning (1-20 June), with snow-patches on slopes remaining until 20 June, and last ice disruption on lakes by 27 June only. Mid-summer was warm and moderately wet, while end of summer and autumn were warm and rainy. Ice-formation on Ob' River occurred also late, on 6 November. There was very high spring water level in the Ob' River floodplain, which remained until late August. Plant greening and flowering developed later than usual. Among birds early migrants arrived later than usual; most insectivorous passerines and waders appeared somewhat later or in average dates. Majority of birds arrived in the very last days of May or first days of June. Reproduction of many species (ducks, waders, passerines) was delayed about one week on average, and endured.
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
7.06.99
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
7.06.99
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
15.06.99
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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 and Red foxes were not met. Rough-legged Buzzards were only recorded in spring on migration outside the floodplain. Wandering Long-tailed Skuas were observed at watershed tundra areas, while other rodent-specialized predators were not recorded at all.
Gulls were present in usual high numbers, while swans were a little less common than usual. Geese do not breed in the area. Ducks have probably moved for reproduction from the floodplain to adjacent areas, where they became more abundant than usual. In the floodplain duck numbers increased only with onset of autumn migration, but they were not high anyway. A few broods of Tufted Duck recorded there were very late.
Breeding was the most successful in Meadow Pipit, trushes, redpols, White-winged Crossbill among passerines by observations in late summer and autumn.
Numbers of almost all waders were low, with the only exceptions of Wood Sandpiper and Whimbrel which density was slightly lower than usual. Among generally uncommon waders on migration in August in the Ob' River floodplain Ruffs, Little Stints and Wood Sandpipers predominated; Spotted Redshanks and Greenshanks were relatively often recorded. Because of flooded until end of August mudflats along channel banks and on shallow lakes area of available wader feeding habitats was substantially reduced.
Despite low numbers of predators and relatively favourable weather situation in mid and late summer, breeding conditions for birds can be evaluated as average or worse than average.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Numbers of voles on watersheds were low or average, judging by single visual records. Lemmings were not seen at all. In floodplain populations of voles, Ground Vole and Muskrat presumably crashed at the largest part of the surveyed area due to high and prolonged flood.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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