Migration routes and nesting sites of birds

Migration routes and nesting sites of birds

The Great Arctic State Reserve is the largest in Russia and one of the world's largest natural reserves. Its area is over 4 million hectares in seven areas, including about 1 million hectares of Arctic seas. The reserve also includes two reserves - Severozemelsky and Brekhovskie Islands.

The territory of the “Great Arctic” is diverse in geological structure, fauna and flora. Flat areas alternate with stone ridges of glacial origin. In the summer, many species of seabirds, anseriformes, waders, and birds of prey nest on the Arctic coast, islands, and continental tundras.

The Brekhovskie Islands natural state reserve was created by a decree of the administration of the Taimyr Autonomous Okrug dated January 22, 1999 without an expiration date.

The territory of the Brekhov Islands, the lower reaches of the Tanama and Yara rivers and the adjacent tundra have traditionally attracted the attention of ornithologists who have visited this area since the end of the last century.

However, until recently, the bird fauna of these areas still remained insufficiently studied.

During my research, I came to the conclusion that this area is of great importance as a habitat for birds along several migratory routes. I have compiled an annotated list of birds of the Brekhov Islands reserve

The lower reaches of the Yenisei serve as a place for nesting, meetings on migration and on regular summer migrations of 4 species of birds listed in the Red Book of Russia (red-breasted goose, little swan, lesser white-fronted swan, white-tailed eagle), and in addition to this 4 species of birds listed in the Red Book of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (grass crane, mudbird, gerbil and Icelandic sandpiper).

For the red-breasted goose, the lower reaches of the Yenisei serve as a place of concentrated migration and stopovers for almost 80% of the species in spring and autumn, that is, they are one of the critical vital areas within the migratory range of the species.

The most important in this regard are the lower reaches of the Yara and Tanama rivers, where tens of thousands of red-breasted geese are observed in the fall. The lower reaches of the Yenisei are also a nesting site for this species. I also found that 50% of the colonies of birds of this species known to us in the lower reaches of the Yenisei are located on rivers regularly visited by people and suffer from hunting and disturbance.

The northern part of the Brekhoveki Islands, in particular the Nasonovskie Islands, is one of the few places where permanent nesting sites for this species have been preserved within the Taimyr District. The number of small swan in this area is estimated at 20-25 pairs and up to 30-50 non-breeding birds.

Against the background of a catastrophic decline in the number and reduction of the range of this species in Taimyr, the Brekhov Islands still maintain a fairly stable population of this rare species.

The peregrine falcon nests along the Muksunikha, Tanama, Yara, Lakurya rivers and many steep banks of rivers and lakes along the Gydan coast of the Yenisei Bay. The number of this species in optimal habitats along the left bank of the Tanama is 3.7 nests per 100 km of the river and its tributaries.

The lower reaches of the Yenisei are valuable both as a nesting site and as a concentration on migration and migration of other wetland bird species. More than 70% of the wetland birds inhabiting the Taimyr District belong to the migratory routes that come to Taimyr in the spring from the west and southwest. About half of them, which is more than a million birds, fly through the lower reaches of the Yenisei in the spring, and in the autumn they stop here before migrating to their wintering grounds in Europe, on the Caspian Sea and in the Persian Gulf, in Africa up to its southern tip and the island of Madagascar . The most numerous among them include dunlin, sandpiper, sandpiper, black-tailed godwit, pintail, teal, long-tailed duck, white-fronted goose, etc.

No comments here yet.


Login or Register (to leave reviews)