Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose conservation project ...

Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose conservation project – Annual report 1999
Morozov: Surveys for Lesser White-fronted Goose in the Bolshezemelskaya Tundra, European Russia, in 1999
Photo 2. Landscape view of the Polar Ural area. © Vladimir Morozov, 1999
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– study breeding biology, productivity, habitat preferences and
moult patterns;
– collect feathers and blood samples for genetic analyses.
2. Study areas
The study was carried out in the eastern part of Bolshezemelskaya
Tundra and the Polar Ural mountains, where LWfG were observed
in the period 1984–93 (Morozov 1988, 1995). The study area is
located in the southern tundra subzone within 67º30’–68º30’ N,
60º00’–70º00’ E. It encompasses the basins of Bolshaya Rogovaya
River and foothills of the Polar Ural. Co-ordinates of the Bolshaya
Rogovaya River basin are 67º25’–67º36’ N, 62º01’–62º30’ E, and
for Polar Ural areas: 67º02’–67º28’, N, 63º55’–65º10’ E.
The landscape of the lowland tundras of Bolshaya Rogovaya
River basin is hilly, and watersheds are usually flat and considerably
swampy (Photo 1). Profusely meandering rivers occupy deep valleys
and sometimes form steep slopes. Rivers flow usually slowly, and
sandy or muddy banks prevail. In the watersheds there is a great
number of lakes of different origin.
The landscape of the Polar Ural is typically mountainous (Photo
2). Watersheds in foothills are drier than those of lowland tundras.
There are practically no lakes and areas dominated by mires are
scarce. Rivers are of mountain character with rapid flow, stony
bottoms and banks composed of rocks. Some river valleys form
narrow canyons. The vegetation in the lowland tundra is similar to
the vegetation in the mountains. Shrub tundras and dense bushes
prevail everywhere within the study area. In these types of tundras,
dwarf birch (Betula nana) and willows (Salix lanata, S. glauca, S.
phylicifolia and S. lapponum) dominate. The shrubs reach 50-60 cm
in height, and dense bushes of more than 2 m high grow along river
and stream valleys. On the flood-plains there are small sedge and
grassy meadows.
3. Weather conditions
In general 1999 was characterised by cold and wet weather. The
spring came late, and in early June 80% of the area was covered by
snow. Regularly the temperature fell below 0ºC. It was snowing
practically every day, and frost at night occurred daily. By mid June,
about 50% of the area was covered by snow. Due to a very cold
winter, many rivers were frozen to the bottom. Drifting of ice
observed 7–15 June, occurred only in large rivers, in small ones the
water flowed on top of the melting ice. The lakes became ice-free
after 5 July.
The summer was cool, cloudy and rainy. From 1 July to 20 August
only 20 days were without precipitation. Strong rain showers in
August caused short time floods in the mountains and foothills. In
total the breeding conditions were not favourable. Bean Geese started
to breed late, the broods had few goslings and the percentage of
non-breeding birds was relatively high. Apparently LWfG did not
breed in one of the investigated areas because of the unfavourable
weather conditions.
4. Methods
Transportation. Since the distance between the two study areas was
more than 150 km, we rented a caterpillar truck, by which our team
moved from Vorkuta to both study areas. During the spring flooding
we used motorboat. In summer, when rivers became shallow, a rubber
boat was used to drive along the large rivers (Usa and Bolshaya
Rogovaya rivers). In the foothills of the Polar Ural we went by foot.
Counts. We counted geese in order to reveal present distribution
and numbers of LWfG within the study area. In the Usa and Bolshaya
Rogovaya River valleys, the geese were counted by using motorboat
in spring and rubber boat in summer. One field worker went by boat
along the stream while two others moved by foot along each river
bank. Watersheds and small streams were surveyed by walking.
Attention was paid to traces of geese (footprints, feathers, excrements,
grazing sites). The total length of the boat censuses was 320 km,
and for counts by foot 440 km. The surveyed area in the Bolshaya
Rogovaya River basin totalled 400 km2 , and the one in Polar Ural
950 km2 . The surveyed area of the foothills of Polar Ural was 450