Wader Studies in the Soviet Union P.S
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Tomkowch . Wader studies m the Soviet Union Wader studies in the Soviet Union P.S. Tomkovich Tomkovich, P.S. 1998. Wader studies in the Soviet Union. International Wader Studies10: 9-12. A brief descriptionis givenof the developmentof wader studiesin the RussianEmpire, in the USSR,and currentlyin the CIS. Specialwader publications have appeared from the early20th century,but thesebirds only became a subjectof specialstudies since the late 1950s.Growth of interestin wadersin the 1960sculminated in All-Union wader conferencesorganised on an irregularbasis since 1973. In October1987 the WorkingGroup on Waderswas established,which keepsresearchers informed about wader studiesand relevantconservation activities not only in CIS but alsothroughout the world. However,almost no joint projectsare currentlyrunning successfullydue to low activityof the Groupmembers and their onlypartial interest in waders. P.S.Tomkovich, Ornithology Dept., Zoological Museum, Moscow State University, Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, 6, Moscow 103009, Russia. TOMKOS•4u,II. C. t998. I4ccaeAosam4• no Kya•aM S COBeTCKOMColo3e. International Wader Studies 10: 9-12. Observations on waders in Russia, as on birds in A new wave of ornithologicalresearch began soon general,date from the secondhalf of the 18th after the Second World War, which was associated century.In the courseof numerousexpeditions an with the appearanceof the six-volumeBirds of the understandingof their numbersand distribution SovietUnion (Dementiev et al. 1951-54)and with acrossthe boundlessexpanses of the land beganto plansby the Academyof Sciencesof the USSRfor be obtained. This information was collated for the the preparationand publicationof monographson firsttime at the startof the presentcentury in the the fauna of little-studiedregions. Especially incompletemanuscript Waders of the Russian Empire worthy of notewas the volumeon wadersby O.B. by S.A. Buturlin(1902, 1905). He was the first Kistyakivski(1957) in the seriesFaunas of the Ukraine Russianornithologist who includedwaders and the sectionon wadersby I.A. Dolgushin(1962) amongsthis manyinterests. This period marked in the five-volumeBirds of Kazakhstart. In the post- the start of scientificstudy on wadersin Russia. war yearsup to the middle of the 1960s,the first BesidesButurlin's wide-ranging work, otherpapers nestswere found in the USSRof the Grey-tailed appearedon the AsiaticDowitcher Limnodromus TattlerHeteroscelus brevipes, Long-billed Dowitcher semipalmatusand on the nestingof the Slender- Limnodromusscolopaceus, and PintailSnipe Gallinago billed Curlew Numenius tenurirostris and other rare stenura,as well as of Broad-billedLimicolafalcinellus, waders of western Siberia. However, after the Sharp-tailedCalidris acuminata and BairdsCalidris Socialist Revolution of 1917, the difficult economic bairdiiSandpipers. Articles describing the situationagain resulted in the studyof waders distributionand way of life of Baird's,Curlew C. takingplace only incidentallyduring various ferruginea,Pectoral C. melanotusand Spoon-billed expeditionsto remoteareas. Nevertheless, during Eurynorhynchuspygmeus Sandpipers and of Red- the 1920s and 1930s the first facts were obtained neckedStint C. ruficollisappeared but, asbefore, aboutthe nestingsites and lifestyleof the Great thesetended to containonly generalizationsof Knot Calidris tenuirostris and the Little Curlew materialgathered incidentally in the courseof Numenius minutus, and the first nests were found of broader faunal research. However, it should be the Far EasternCurlew Numeniusmadagascariensis. notedthat from earlytimes Russian faunal studies In addition,Buturlin and L.A. Portenkomade great were morethan mere compilations of listsand an progressin studiesof the geographicalvariation of elucidationof the statusof species,containing wadersin the USSR,almost completing the instead a treasure-house of all sorts of facts about descriptionof new speciesand sub-speciesof the life of birds. Palearctic forms. International Wader Studies 10: 9-12 In the 1950s,works on wadersbegan to appearthat detailedanalyses of themigration in EasternEurope werebased on moreintensive study. Especially of speciessuch as the LapwingVanellus vanellus, worthy of notewas an articleby A.M. Cheltsov OystercatcherHaernatopus ostralegus, Tumstone Bebutov (1950), who discovered that arctic waders Arenariainterpres and Great SnipeGallinago media. encounteredduring summer in Kazakhstanare In 1973-74,headquarters and resourceswere chieflyearly migrants from the tundraand not speciallyallocated and a Co-ordinatingCommittee wanderingimmature birds, or onesbreeding on the setup for dealingwith problemsof bird migration steppes,as was formerlythought. However,it was and orientationin the country. researchinto morphologythat predominatedat this time. Importantmonographs by E.V.Kozlova (1961, The 1970s culminated in the second All-Union 1962)and K.A. Yudin (1965)in the seriesFauna of the Conference on Waders in 1979, and a third such USSRcomprised not only the fullestreview yet of conferencewas held in October1987. During the information about waders in the USSR, but also a interveningperiod, first discoveriesof nestingin the comprehensivemorphological analysis of USSR of Oriental Pratincole Glareola maldivarum and genealogicalhistory (phylogeny) within the group. SemipalmatedSandpiper Calidris pusilia were made and better information obtained on the distribution By the end of the 1960s,a growthof interestin andbiology of severalunder-studied species, wadersamong Soviet ornithologists resulted in includingIbisbill Ibidorhyncha struthersii, Long- morefrequent and detailedpublications, billed PloverCharadrius placidus and Buff-breasted, particularlyones based on ringing. An important Bairdsand Curlew Sandpipers.Of particularnote work of that time is the monographby V.V.Biancki, waspublication of the detailedmonograph by A.Ya. Waders,gulls and auks of the Kandalaksha Gulf (1967). Kondratyevon Thebiology of waders in thetundra of Thanksto both Sovietand foreignwader research, north-eastAsia (1982). the old idea of a dull uniformityin the way of life andbehaviour of wadersgradually changed to Migration researchalso underwent further almostthe oppositeopinion. It becameclear that developmentduring thistime. Concentrated waderspossess a greatvariety of breedingsystems, ringingby ornithologistsat the Universityof a diversityof behaviourinvolving considerable use Krasnoyarskproduced the first interestingresults of displayplumages, and subtleecological concerninglinks betweenthe wadersof south- differencesbetween species. All this,along with the centralSiberia and Australia. Similarly, greatvariety of speciesand the abundanceof many ornithologistsat the ZoologicalInstitute of waders,combined to makethem a modelgroup for Kazakhstanbegan to draw conclusionsfrom the studyinga seriesof generalbiological questions. detailedmigration studies in thatrepublic; so far, Thus,the beginning of the 1970ssaw an increasing informationhas been published for the Red-necked focuson wadersthroughout the whole world. In PhalaropePhalaropus lobatus, Broad-billed the USSR,a new stagein researchon thesebirds Sandpiper,Temminck's Stint Calidris temrninckii and was achieved in 1973, when the first All-Union preparedfor Little StintC. minuta.In addition,the Conferenceon waderbiology was organisedby V.E. RingingCentre of the USSRhas published a Flint. This conference was successful both in summaryof COMECON wader ringingdata showingthat the Sovietstudy on waderswas then (Viksne& Mikhelson 1985). "keepingpace" with elsewhereand alsoin establishingthe basisof a traditionfor such Interestingresults of generalbiological importance conferencesof countrywideimportance. were obtained in several areas. For instance, there were interestingcomparative behavioural studies Despiteno longerhaving a predominantrole, published,such as those of themating and distributional research on Soviet waders continued territorialdisplays in Little RingedPlover to be important in the 1970sin view of the vast size Charadriusdubius and Long-billedRinged Plover C. of the country.Discoveries in thisperiod included placidus(Panov 1973), and classificationof the first nestsof the JapaneseSnipe Gallinago distractionbehaviour in arcticwaders (Flint 1973, hardwickii,Solitary Snipe Gallinago solitaria, Buff- 1977). Researchby E.I. Khlebosolov(1985, 1986) in breastedSandpiper Tryngites subruficollis and the lowerreaches of the KolymaRiver has SpottedGreenshank Tringa guttifer. Unfixed- demonstratedthe importanceof competitive transect census studies of birds, often in remote interactionsnot only amongstadult arcticwaders areas,also became popular, but unfortunately but alsoamongst downy chicks in theirfirst days of informationgathered on breedingwaders was life. Downychicks, even of closelyrelated species, usuallyincidental and rarelyreflected their true differ in variousecological niches: they tend to use densityand distribution.Breeding biology studies, different micro-habitats, different food and, on notablyof rarespecies and individuallymarked occasion,different methods of hunting. Fromthis it populations,attracted great attention, and A.A. canbe establishedthat the earlypost-hatching Kistchinski(1976, 1978) produced important papers period is oneof the weak links in the life of tundra on the roleof wadersin tundraecosystems. Studies birds,being an importantdeterminant of on wader migrationalso achieved prominence at divergenceamong related wader species. thistime. The first generalreview of resultsfrom