sign in sign up
<<
Home , Calidris, Caspian plover, Common sandpiper, Curlew, Curlew sandpiper, Dunlin

Shubin:Importance of westernCaspian for migratingand winteringwaders

The importance of the western Caspian coastfor migrating and wintering A.O. Shubin

Shubin,A.O. 1998. The importanceof the westernCaspian coast for migratingand wintering waders. International Studies 10: 403-412.

Between1981-91, 44 migratingand 28 winteringspecies of waderswere recorded on thewestern Caspiancoast. On wetlandsin thenorthern part of theAgrakhan Peninsula more than 5,000 waderswere countedin late Octoberin oneplace, the majorityof whichwere alpina.On the 4 krn sandybeach in the southernpart of theAgrakhan Peninsula about 5,000 waderscan occur at any onetime in autumn,with SanderlingCalidris alba (48%) and Dunlin most abundant.In April-Mayup to 1,000waders gather here, including over 600 Terek Xenuscinereus. In someyears, on the 4 krn sandybeach at the Samurriver mouth,about 500 Sanderlingsand 500Little Calidris minuta may gatherin August. Over200 Wood SandpipersTringa glareola and 200 Common gallinago also stop here on a 90 ha emptyfishery pond. On wetlandsat KirovBay about 30,000 waders accumulate in August,with Black-tailedGodwit Limosa limosa (40%), Calidrisferruginea (19%) and Kentish PloverCharadrius alexandrinus (12%) being most abundant. Other regions of the westernCaspian coastare largely unsuitable for waders:the coastto the northof theAgrakhan Peninsula is completelycovered by reedsand all of the southerncoast suffers from manyhuman activities. Moreover,current sea-level changes and coastalerosion have led to the disappearanceof the beach flats. Winterconcentrations of wadersin Kirov Bayare now apparentlythe largestin the . In 1984-86about 7,000 Redshank totanus, 4,000 Dunlin and 2,000Black-tailed were countedthere. Numbersof winteringAvocet Recurvirostra avosetta and Curlew Numenius arquatadecreased between 1967 and 1986,but the numberof Black-tailedGodwits increased markedly.

A.O. Shubin,Department of Zoology,Moscow State Pedagogical University, Kibalchicha, 6, building 5, Moscow 129278, Russo.

Illy6.u, A.O. t998, 3Haqcu•4c 3ana•uoro no6cpcm•.s Kacns•icKoro •ops hasM•4rp•4py•ou.l•4X •4 31tMyiOII,DIX Kya•4•OS. International Wader Studies 10: 403-412.

B nep•o^c t98t not99t r. 6•,laoaaper•c•rpsposauo 44 •rp•py•sx • 28 as•y•sx s•os •ya•os nasanaAno• no6epe•ue Kacn•a. B soAno-6oaoTnb•xyroAbax s cesepno• qacTu Arpaxauc•oron-sa 6•ao yulerios oAno••ec•e cs•me5,000 •ya•os s •on•e o•6pa, s 6oabm•ncTseqepno306aSS Calidris alpina. Ha nccqano•hasroe aasuo• 4 • s DmnO•qaCTn Arpaxaucsoron-sa o•oao 5,•0 syasros•oryT BcTpeqaTbC• OanOSpe•eUUO SaD6oe spe•s ocen•, ripss•o• ca• o6•a•u• 6•ma• necqan•aCali&is alba (48%) s qepuo3o6•.B anpeae-•aesaec• c•paDTCa got,000 •ya.•os, s •o• qucaecsb•me 600 •opoayuo•Xen• cinere•.B ovaeabub•eroab• Ha •eTb•pex•aaOMeVpOBUOM necqauoM hasroe B yCTbe p, CaMyp B aBrycTeMoryt CO6apatbCa O•OaO 500 nec•ano•s 500 •yaa•OS-Sopo6beBCalidris minuta. 3AeCb oc•anaBasBa•otcata•me CBb•me200 •.•. Tringaglareola. 200 O6b•SnOBeUab•X6e•acoB Gallinagogallinago na ocymennoMpb•6osogaeC•OM npygy nao•aAb•o 90 ra. B BOgnO-6OaOt.blX yroabaxB 3aaaBe Ka•Ba o•oao50,000 •yas•os •o.•entpspy•tca BaBrycte, s CaMb•MS MUOrO.aCaeanb•M.cpeaanax 6bIBa•t 6oabmo• •epetemm• Limosa limosa (40%), •pacHo3o6a• Cali&isfermginea(i9%). Mopc•o• aye• Chara&ius alexan&inus (i2%). Apyrae pafio.• aanaaaorono6epeaba Kacnaa no 6oabme6 qagT• .enparoaub• aaa •yaa•OB: no6epeabe Mops • cenepyoT Arpaxanc•oro n-Ba Bee no•pb• 3apocaaM•tpoctna•a a BeeD•noe no6epeabe ctpagaeTOT MHO•HX anTponorennb•x ge•CTBnfi, Boaee Toro, CoBpeMeUnb•e n3Me.e•l•a ypoBna MopsBMeCTe Ca6paaaea 6epera npaBea. • .cqeanoBen.•npa6pe•nb•x OTMeaefi. 3.Maae c•onaenaa•yaa.OB S 3aaaBeKapoBa Tenepb, nO-SaAaMOMy, caMb•e •pynnb•e B6acceaae Kacnaac.oro•opa. B t984-86rr. tam6b•ao yqteno o•oao 7,•0 tpasns•o•Tringa totanm, 4,000 aepno3o6a•o•a 2,000 6oabmax •e•tenna•OB. qacaenuoctb aaMy•O•aX msao•a•BOS Recumirostraavosetta • 6oabmax •ponmaenoB Numenius arquata cnaaaaacb Meaay t967 a i986 rr.,torga •a• aaMe•UoBoapocao •Oaa•eCtBO 6oabmax Bepeteuna•OB.

4O3 International Wader Studies 10: 403-412

Introduction extremelyscarce and almostexclusively concerns the numbersof winteringwaders at the Kirov Bay, Verylarge numbers of wadersmigrate along the southernAzerbaijan (Tugarinov & Kozlova- westerncoast of the CaspianSea, a proportionof Pushkareva1938; Adolf et al. 1958;Spangenberg which alsooverwinter in the southernCaspian 1959;Dobrokhotov 1963; Oliger 1967;Mikheev & region(Bogdanov 1879; Radde 1884; Satunin 1907; Orlov 1972). Up until now therehave been no data Vereschagin1950; Tugarinov 1950; Grekov 1965; Zlotin 1963; Mustafaev 1972,1974; Bondarev & on wadernumbers at the placeswhere they stopto feed duringmigration. Bondarev 1980; Mikheev 1985; Rezanov 1983; Shubin 1986, 1990,1991a,b). Nevertheless,the While studyingthe ecologyand behaviourof numberof wadersthat stopover in theseareas still migratingand winteringwaders in areaswith large remainsone of the leaststudied subjects. concentrations,the author also conducted wader Informationpublished before the 1980sis counts. These data were used as the basis for this paper.

Study areas Most of the datawere obtainedduring two to four

. week expeditionsto variousareas of the western Caspiancoast during different times of the migrationor winteringseasons. The main study areas(Figure 1) were:(1) the southernpart of the

.. AgrakhanPeninsula in the Novyi Terekriver mouth,October-November 1983, April-May 1984

-- CaspianSea

....

-•;

.;.

INSET: a - Kulaginarea; b - Ivanovskybank; c -

.., Karakushmudflats; d - Kaban'yaspit; e - Lebiazh'yaspit; f - Krestovskayaspit. Dotted line indicatesboundary of nature reserve. Figure1. Main geographicalnames mentioned in the paperand the distributionof recreationalestablishments and 1986,September-October 1985, August- on the CaspianCoast ß (fromMolchanova 1989). Named September1986; (2) the coastsin the Samurriver locations are: mouth, where observations were conducted throughoutthe year (exceptmid-winter and mid- 1 - AgrakhanPeninsula, southern part; summer);(3) Kyzyl-AgachNature Reservein Kirov 2 - the Samur river mouth Bay,August 1984 and 1985,January-February 1981- 3 - KirovBay, Kyzyl-^gach Nature Reserve: 1986. In theseareas daily censuseswere conducted 4 - Kizlyar Bay; on transectsor controlplots. Singlevisits were also 5 - AgrakhanPeninsula, northern part; madeto otherparts of the westernCaspian coast: 6 - the Sulak river mouth; (4) to KizliarskyBay, (5) the northernpart of the ? - the surroundngsof Neftechalasettlement; AgrakhanPeninsula, (6) the Sulakriver mouth,and 8 - Shirvanisteppe; (7) the coastsnear Neftechala settlement. 9 - Lenkoran coast; 10 - the VolgaDelta 11- North-EasternCaspian coast with surroundings; 12 - KrasnovodskBay; 13 - Gasan-Kuli Nature Reserve; 14 - Miankaleh Peninsula;

4O4 Shubin:Importance of westernCaspian for migratingand winteringwaders

Current stateof the western CaspianCoast billed SandpiperLimicolafalcinelIus, and Knot Currently,the western Caspian coast suffers from CaIidriscanutus (Shubin 1986)were the first for the intensehuman influence,as it is well devoloped westernCaspian coast. economicallyand supports a numberof recreation areas(Figure 1). Theleast damaged northern part In winter we recorded28 wader ;the most of thewestern Caspian coast, extending north from diversefauna (which included all the recorded theAgrakhan Peninsula to KizlyarBay and further species)was found at Kirov Bay (Kyzyl-Agach to the VolgaDelta is almostcompletely overgrown Nature Reserve). Othershave recordedseveral with reeds and thus is unsuitable for waders. Thus, morespecies at Kirov Bayin the winter:Dotterel suitableconditions for thesebirds only occurin Charadriusmorinellus, Xenus severalprotected areas on themiddle and southern cinereus,Red-necked Phalaropus Iobatus, partsof thewestern Caspian coast, i.e. the TumstoneArenaria interpres, Philomachus Agrakhanand SamurNature Sanctuariesand the pugnax,Temminck's Calidris temminckii and Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve in the KirovBay. SanderlingCalidris alba (Satunin 1907; Tugarinov & Kozlova-Pushkareva1938; Oliger 1967;Mustafayev Most of the westernCaspian coast to the southof 1972,1974; Rezanov 1983). In otherregions of the theAgrakhan Peninsula is dominatedby sandy westernCaspian coast, the wader faunais much beaches,which are being reduced drastically due to lessdiverse: nine winteringspecies are known for intensecoastal erosion caused by the continuous the Lenkoran'coasts (Mustafayev 1972), five for the advanceof the CaspianSea. Vastmudflats and Shirvanisteppes (Zlotin 1963) and 13for the Samur shallowwaters, which are preferred by waders,are river delta (V.T.Butiev & E.A. Lebedevapers. found at the AgrakhanPeninsula and in Kirov Bay. comm.).At the AgrakhanPeninsula in 1975 At theAgrakhan Peninsula they stretch for c.10km waders were not recordedin winter at all (A.V. alongthe coastlineof the northernpart of the Mikheevpers. comm.). Peninsula.A smallcoastal area in the Novyi Terek river mouth on the southernpart of this Peninsula Numbers of waders at stopoversites during also turned out to be favourable for waders, due to migration its ratherhigh habitat diversity: numerous sandy The areawhere the largestnumbers of waders spits,mudflats in thebays and river mouthand a concentrateduring migration along the western marshyarea of coastallowland. In Kirov Bay CaspianCoast is Kirov Bay(Kyzyl-Agach Nature conditions favourable for waders are found in Reserve,Azerbaijan). Autumn numbersrecorded severalrestricted areas, mostly in thenorthern and in the surveyedparts of the reserveare shown in westernparts of theBay: the Karakush lake Table2. Only speciesfor whichmore than 20 mudflats,the Kaban'ya, Lebiazh'ya, Krestovskaya individualswere recordedin at leastone study mudflatsand in theKulagin area (Figure 1). The season are included. counts were rounded as Samur river delta is rather unfavourable for waders follows: 11 to 50 to the nearest five, 50 to 1,000 to asthe sandy beaches there are rather narrow; the nearest ten, more than 1,000 to the nearest 100. however,some fresh-water waders use the muddy The areassurveyed were Karakush(1,500x300 m), bottomsof drainedfish ponds. Obviously,Kirov Kaban'yaspit (250x250m) and the Kulaginarea Bayand theAgrakhan Peninsula are currentlythe (2,000x200m). The sum of the maximum number onlyplaces on thewestern Caspian coast which are estimatedfor eachspecies was 14,000birds. As we suitablestopover sites for largenumbers of migrant surveyedabout one half of thearea suitable for and wintering waders. waders,the totalnumber of birdsthat stopover in the reserveis probablyat leasttwice as high, i.e. Results and Discussion about 28,000 waders.

The list and statusof wader species Fairlylarge numbers of foragingwaders were also On the westernCaspian coast we recordeda total recordedat theAgrakhan Peninsula. The main of 44 waderspecies. The mostdiverse wader fauna areawhere they concentrated was situated on the is foundduring the migrationperiod (Table1): 41 northernpart of the Peninsula:in an area1,500 x specieswere recordedduring autumnmigration, 200m in size. From a singlepoint on the shore, and40 speciesduring spring migration. The list of 5,000Dunlin Calidrisalpina, 53 RedshankTringa speciesis almostthe same as that observedat the totanus,50 GreyPlover squatarola and two endof the 19thto thefirst half of the 20thcentury Kentish alexandrinus were (Bogdanov1879; Radde 1884; Satunin 1907; counted. Vereschagin1950; Tugarinov 1950). The only speciesrecorded then, that we did not recordwere On theregularly surveyed 4 km of coastlineon the Cream-coloured Courser Cursorius cursor, Slender- southernpart of AgrakhanPeninsula (the Novyi billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris and Pacific Terekriver mouth), up to 1,000birds were censused GoldenPlover Pluvialisfulva. There has been the duringspring migration and in autumnup to 5,000 occasionalrecord of GreyPhalarope Phalaropus waderswere recordedduring a singlecount fulicariusat the Samurriver delta (Mikheev 1985) (Table3). but this specieswas not observedanywhere during our studies.Our recordsof Red-wattledLapwing In the Samurriver deltawaders use small, sandy, Lobivanellusindicus (Polozov et aI. 1990), Broad- coastalspits and the mudflats of drainedfish

405 International Wader Studies 10: 403-412

Table1. Thelist and relative abundance of waderson thewestern coast of theCaspian Sea during the non-breeding period1981-1990.

Au "tumn : •ntering*

StoneCurlew oedicnemus R R - Grey PloverPluvialis squatarola C C C GoldenPlover Pluvialis apricaria R R E RingedPlover Charadrius hiaticula C R R Little RingedPlover Charadrius dubius C C R GreaterSandplover Charadrius leschenaultii R - CaspianPlover Charadrius asiaticus R - Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus A/C R R Dotterel Charadrius morinellus E E - SociablePlover Chettusia gregaria R R - LapwingVanellus vanellus A A C White-tailed Plover Chettusia leucura R E Red-wattledLapwing Vanellus indicus E - Black-wingedStilt Himantopus himantopus C C E Recurvirostra avosetta C R C OystercatcherHaematopus ostralegus R R E GreenSandpiper Tringa ochropus C A R WoodSandpiper Tringa glareola A R - GreenshankTringa nebularia C R E RedshankTringa totanus C R A SpottedRedshank Tringa erythropus R R E MarshSandpiper Tringa stagnatilis C R E CommonSandpiper hypoleucos A A E TerekSandpiper Xenus cinereus C C - Red-neckedPhalarope Phalaropus lobatus C R - TumstoneArenaria interpres C R - Ruff Philomachuspugnax C A E Calidris minuta A R E Temminck's Stint Calidris temminckii R R - Curlew SandpiperCalidrisferruginea A R E Dunlin Calidrisalpina A A A SanderlingCalidris alba A R - Knot Calidris canutus E - - Broad-billedSandpiper Limicolafalcindlus R R - JackSnipe Lymnocryptes minimus R R E GreatSnipe Gallinago media R R E CommonSnipe Gallinago gallinago A C C WoodcockScolopax rusticola R R E Curlew Numeniusarquata C C C/R WhimbrelNumenius phaeopus C R C/R Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa A C A Bar-tailedGodwit Limosalapponica R R - CollaredPratincole Glareola pratincola R R - Black-wingedPratincole Glareola nordmanni R R -

A- abundant;C - common;R - rare;E - singlebirds * - datamostly from the Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve.

ponds. Usually,their numbersthere are ratherlow comm.).At oneof the two drainedfish ponds and increaseonly when the mostfavourable (0.9km 2) quite large feeding concentrations of conditionsoccur. The largestnumbers of waders CommonSnipe Gallinago gallinago and Wood are observedin Augustand in the first half of SandpiperTringa glareola were observedin the first September.On the regularlysurveyed 4 km half of September- morethan 200 a day for coastlineonly SanderlingCalidris alba and Little eachspecies (V.T. Butiev & E.A. Lebedeva,pers. Stint Calidris minuta can be considered abundant: comm.). Numbersof Black-wingedStilt theirnumbers varied a greatdeal, usually not Himantopushimantopus, Tringa exceedingseveral tens, but in someyears reaching ochropus,Greenshank Tringa nebularia, Marsh 500birds a day (Sanderlingin September1978, A.V. SandpiperTringa stagnatilis, Mikheev,pers. comm.; Little Stint in August and Actitishypoleucos, Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus, September1988, V.T. Butiev & E.A. Lebedeva,pers. CurlewSandpiper Calidris ferruginea, Dunlin

406 Shubin:Importance of westernCaspian for migratingand wintering waders

Table2. Maximumnumbers of waderspresent at anyone time on the surveyed areas of theKirov Bay (Kyzyl-Agach NatureReserve) during autumn migration in 1984-1985.

" m.udflats• mudflats 4-20August •.•2aAugust4 August 1984 14 August :1984 1985

Grey Plover 30 50 - 25 RingedPlover 100 200 - 8 Kentish Plover 550 1,500 - 9 Black-wingedStilt 400 350 15 60 ^vocet 120 300 130 - Redshank 100 10 200 30 300 300 200 15 Red-neckedPhalarope 200 20 - - Ruff 220 360 - 30 Little Stint 350 200 - - 720 1,100 2 1,500 Dunlin 530 80 70 - Broad-billedSandpiper 6 130 - - Curlew - 45 250 - Whimbrel 20 300 - - Black-tailed Godwit 5,000 400 450 200 Other species 40 45 20 6

Total 8,686 5,390 1,337 1,883

Table3. Maximumnumbers of wadersrecorded in periodsin springand in autumnon a fixed4 km routeon thebeach on thesouthern part of theAgrakhan Peninsula (the Novyi Terek river mouth).

ß .• Au "txmm ß 3 -,4. 5 6

Grey Plover 10 80 40 - 260 180 Little RingedPlover 4•, 6 15 - - - Kentish Plover 45 30 10 - 8 - Black-wingedStilt 80 25 - - - Oystercatcher 20 40 20 - 5 - Greenshank 2 55 6 70 - CommonSandpiper 2 25 15 1 - Redshank 100 90 190 540 30 TerekSandpiper 640 310 6 - - Tumstone 2 40 20 - Little Stint 1 30 45 30 - Curlew Sandpiper 7 580 - Dunlin 100 10 6 - 1,100 1,400 8 160 1,500 380 2,800 15 CommonSnipe - - 20 15 Curlew 1 2 - 2 25 Whimbrel 35 .... Black-tailed Godwit 6 3 - 40 35 Bar-tailed Godwit 3 25 60 - 40 - Other species 55 30 90 - 5 2

Total 1,111 950 2,054 380 5,521 1,702

1 - 9 to 24 April 1984;2 - 27 April to 10 May 1986;3 - 7 to 22 August1986; 4 - 17to 30 September1986; 5 - 22 Septemberto 4 October1985; 6 - 19October to 4 November1983. Numbers approximated as in Table2.

407 International Wader Studies 10: 403-412

Calidrisalpina, and Black-tailedGodwit Limosa waderspecies, were alsorecorded in the semidesert limosadid not exceed30-50 birds at any onetime, partsof the Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve: near the and other waders were rare (not more than 10-20 Karakush mudflats about 40 birds overwintered in birds). Thus,in someyears up to 2,000waders can 1984, and about 20 birds overwintered in 1985 on be foundat any onetime in autumnat the Samur an areaof c. 6 kiT[2 in the Kulaginarea which river delta. covered12 krJ[12 up to 10 Lapwingsoverwintered in 1982/1983 and 1983/1984, 20 birds in 1985 and from Numbers of wintering waders 20 to 60 birds in 1986. Some waders were also In winter,as in migrationperiods, Kirov Bayis the recordedin smallnumbers in the swampyparts of main areaof wader concentrations.Wintering semi-desertsnear fresh-watercanals (Table 5). numbers of these birds are shown in Table 4. As all the habitats suitable for waders were The data in Table 4 demonstrate that numbers of surveyedwithin the area,which was represented winteringwaders fluctuate noticeably from yearto by the Kulaginarea, Karakush mud flats and the year;the mostmarked fluctuations are in numbers Kaban'yaspit, we canextrapolate using maximum of Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit on the estimatesfor every speciesto estimatethe total Karakushmud flats. In the Kulaginarea in 1984- numberof waderswintering at this area(Table 6). 1986,numbers of Curlew Numeniusarquata and The numberof CommonSnipe is under-estimated, Black-tailedGodwit appearedto decline,although due to the inconspicuousbehaviour of thesebirds. thesedifferences were not statisticallysignificant. In the otherparts of the westernCaspian Coast, numbersof winteringwaders were not large,and In addition,Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus was evenin the vicinityof Kirov Bayat the Lenkoran' common there in winter 1981/1982, but since 1983 it steppes,it did not exceedseveral birds per km of hasbecome extremely rare. LapwingVanellus coastline (Table 7). vanelluswintered regularly and, in contrastto other

Table4. Numbersof winteringwaders at theKyzyl-Agach Nature Reserve in Januaryand February1984 - 1986.

Species: 1 2: -3, •1 5: 6 7

•.:

GreyPlover 4 3.3 6 2.7 19.0 8.4 (0-5) (0-13.8) (6-58) (5-22)

Kentish Plover - ? 3.3 - ? (0-5) (0-24) (0-11)

Lapwing ? 3.3 4.3

(0-2.1) (0-9) (0-10)

Avocet 1 58.4 130 4.3 8.3 9.4 38.5 (0-243) (0-57.2) (0-42) (6.2-88)

Redshank 4,000 5.7 2,500 14.0 52.8 83.0 75.0 (0-11) (3.6-330) (40-144) (10-260)

Dunlin 52 125 560 - 224 401 513 (96-154) (7-1,120) (230-764) (140-1040)

CommonSnipe 8 ? - 9.1 5.8 6.6 10.9 (0-4) (0-17.5) (0-19) (2-20)

Curlew - 2.0 - 0.6 38.5 14.2 8.0 (0-4) (0-128.5) (0-32) (0-26)

Black-tailed Godwit - 1,660 2 20.3 78.6 52 5.2 (900-2,000) (0-293) (6-129) (0-36)

1 - Karakushmud flats (counts on 17Jan. 1984; absolute numbers); 2 - Karakushmudflats (17 to 24Jan. 1985; average data,range is shownin brackets);3 - Kaban'yaspit (17Jan. 1984; absolute numbers); 4 - Ivanovskybank, 3.5 km (18Jan. 1984;ind./kin); 5 - Kulaginlocality (19 Jan. to 2 Feb.1984; average (ind./kin) data, range is shownin brackets); 6 - Kulaginlocality (27 Jan. to 1 Feb.1985; average (inddkm) data, range is shownin brackets);7 - Kulaginlocality (25 Jan.to 2 Feb.1986; average (ind./kin) data, range is shownin brackets).

408 Shubin:Importance of westernCaspian for migratingand winteringwaders

Long-termchanges in numbersof wintering thewaders counted were not identifiedspecifically. waders at the Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve Theseprobably included the smallspecies for Althougha numberof publicationswith whichidentification was difficult,as the surveys were made from motor-boats. informationon waderswintering in differentyears at the Kyzyl-^gachNature Reserve have appeared, The data in Table 8 demonstrate the existence of practicallyall theseworks give only general information on the relative abundance of wader largedifferences in the quantitativecomposition of speciesand includevery sparsedata on their winteringwader assemblages.However, only the numbers(Table 8). Beforeour studies,an attempt informationwhich enabled the analysisof changes in numbers was included. We should also mention to estimatewintering numbers of waderswas made at the reservein January1967 by Mikheev & Orlov thatthese data have to be interpretedwith caution, (1972)who considerthat theyhad censusedabout asnone of the scientistsstudied waders specifically. 70%of all the winteringbirds. More thanhalf of Therefore, the lack or absence of data on several Table5. Numbersof wadersat thesemi-desert areas in thevicinity of fresh-watercanals (ind. per 1 km of a canal).

:$.lm•ies. :•1January-i982 :28.!anuaty

.. 12

Grey Plover 0.1 Lapwing 1.0 0.4 Redshank - 0.4 Curlew • - 0.6 CommonSnipe 4.0 0.3

Table 6. Maximum number estimates for the most specieswas probablybecause numbers were too commonwaders wintering at the Kyzyl-AgachNature smallto be noticedduring suchstudies, rather than Reservein 1984-1986(Kulagin area, Karakush mudflats being a real absencein winter. Moreover,some of and Kaban'yaspit). the studieswere madeusing the singleroute counts method, and as we have shown above, number of ,Species Numberof bitds ß birdsvary not onlyfrom year to yearbut alsodaily. These differences in number estimates are reflected GreyPlover 60 in Table8: for example,the estimatesof several Lapwing 100 authorsvary evenwithin a rathershort time period ^vocet 300 (1951-1962). Nevertheless,these data can be used Redshank 7,000 for to evaluategeneral numerical trends since the Dunlin 4,000 1930sfor somewader species. CommonSnipe >100 Curlew 150 RingedPlover Charadrius hiaticula, which wasthe Black-tailed Godwit 2,000 commonestwader in the 1930s,when flocks of up to 20 birdsof thisspecies were recorded, has Total 13,710 becomeextremely rare. Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta

Table7. Numbers(ind./km) of winteringwaders in differentplaces of thewestern Caspian Coast.

• . .. •., .• •... •.•,, • _ ___ • •... ..• • . :SP•i"•s LøCatiøn 1 2 3

Golden Plover - 2-4 - RingedPlover - 2-4 - Kentish Plover 3-6 - Lapwing 0.9 (0-7.8) - 2-5 Avocet ? (0-0.5) 4-5 - GreenSandpiper 0.8 (0-2.5) 3-10 1 Redshank ? (0-0.5) 1-4 - Sanderling 3-8 - Dunlin - 1 - JackSnipe - 1-2 2 ** - 4 CommonSnipe 0.8 (0-5.0) - 27 Black-tailed Godwit ? (0-1.5) 3-10 -

1 - coastin the Samurriver delta,our data;2 - LenkoranCoast (Mustafayev 1972); 3 - Salinemarshes of Shirvanisteppe (Zlotin 1963). ** - the specieswas recorded in .

4O9 International Wader Studies 10: 403-412

Table8. Long-termchanges in numbersof winteringwaders at theKyzyl-^gach Nature Reserve.

l•õg .l•]•7:a 't_•6 b :19•57•62d! 1963

Grey Plover C/R - - - 60 RingedPlover C .... E Lapwing C - C/R - - 584 >100 Avocet hundreds - thousands 500 (in 1958 + 1,073(563) 300 10,000 in 1962) Redshank C - C/R R - 7,000 Dunlin tens - - 1,000/2km - 718 (280) 4,000 CommonSnipe + - R - 2.7-8.3/km 120 >100 Curlew tens - C/R - - C/R Whimbrel - R - - - C/R Black-tailedGodwit R R - 25/2km - 21 (20) 2,000 Wadersspp. - .... 5,530(2,700) -

C - common;R - rare;E - singlebirds; + - speciesrecorded, numbers not estimated;"-" - speciesnot mentioned.a - Tugarunov& Kozlova-Pshkareva1938; b - Spangenberg1959; c - Adolf et al. 1958; d - Dobrokhotov1963; e - Oliger 1967;f - Mikheev& Orlov 1972,figures in parenthesesare data for the Kulaginarea; g - our data.

was the onlynumerous wintering wader before the We shouldstress that the westernCaspian coast is 1960s;an obvious decline occurred in the 1970- probablythe mainstopover in the regionfor Terek 1980s. The numbers of Redshank, Dunlin, Sandpiper,Bar-tailed Godwit and Whimbrel,as CommonSnipe and Curlew were not high until the thesebirds are extremely rare on the easterncoasts beginningof the 1960sand increasedlater. The of the CaspianSea (Radde & Walter1889; Isakov & largestnumbers of Redshankwere recorded in the Vorobiev1940; Dementiev 1952; Molodovsky 1963; 1980s.Numbers of winteringDunlin and Common Feenyet al. 1968;Karavaev & Belousov1980), in the Snipehave remained relatively stable since the area to the north of the Caucasus(Oleinikov et al. middleof the 1960s.Wintering Curlew were most 1973;Poslavsky 1978; Kazakov et al. 1981-1983; numerousin the 1960s,but by the 1980stheir Gizzatulin &Tochiev1989), and in the Crimea numbershad decreasednoticeably. Black-tailed (Kostin 1983). The winter concentrationof waders Godwit,which winteredregularly but in small in Kirov Bayis probablythe largestin the Caspian numbers before the late 1960s, became the most Searegion (Table 9). numerouswintering bird in 1980.

Overall,none of the winteringwaders except Acknowledgements Avocet were numerous before the late 1950s and I am gratefulto Prof.A.V. Mikheev,the founder their numbers started to increase from 1960s and headof researchon migrationand wintering onwards.This may be linkedto the stabilizationof birdson the westernCaspian coast, for his valuable the waterlevel in the CaspianSea after continuous advice and additional information. I would like to reduction which had started in the 1920s. As a thankthe colleagueswho kindly suppliedme with result, the shallow coastal waters with mollusc part of their unpublisheddata: V.T. Butiev, E.A. shellsin KirovBay turned into mudflatsand the Lebedeva, A.B. Kostin, S.A. Polozov, and also E.A. area suitable for waders increased. Since 1970, the Koblikand V.S.Freedman and the many students waterlevel have been rising again rapidly leading of MoscowPedagogical State University, who took to new changesin the winteringwader part in the collectionof the data. This studywas assemblages.For example,the deepeningof possibledue to thegreat assistance of the Kyzyl- shallowcoastal waters has deprived and AgachReserve staff and its Director,B.G. Mekhtiev, Curlewsof their favouredfeeding areas. and the supportof DaghestanState Inspection,particularly Yu.V. Pishvanov. Conclusion References The westernCaspian coast evidently plays an importantrole as an areafor migratingand Adolf, T.A.,Vtorov, P.E, Gagarina, T.A., Drozdov, N.N., winteringwaders (Figure 2). Thisis determined Moshkin, A.V., & Chainova, H.M. 1958. ¾•mter bothby the rich speciesdiversity and the high excursionto the Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve.Sci. numbersof manywader species.The large Notes.of Moscow Pedagogical Inst. 84(7): 73-82. In Russian. concentrationsof Sanderlingat the southernpart of theAgrakhan Peninsula (up to 2,800birds) have Bogdanov,M.N. 1879. Birdsof the Caucasus.Transactions not beenrecorded elsewhere in the Caspianregion. ofthe Soc. of Naturalists at theImperial Kazan' Univ. 8(4). 186pp. In Russian.

410 Shubin:Importance of westernCaspian for migratingand wintering waders

Table9. Numbersof abundantwaders at theCaspian Sea wintering grounds.

ß Species Winteringarea' Total

, ,

ß

Redshank 7,000 - - 7,000 Dunlin 4,000 10,000 5,000 19,000 Black-tailed Godwit 2,000 - 4,000 6,000 Other species 1,000 1,000 3,000 5,000

Total 14,000 11,000 12,000 37,000

1 - Kirov Bay,our data;2 - KrasnovodskBay (Vengerov1973); 3 - MiankalehPeninsula (Summers et al. 1987).

6• CaspianSeat •L, •

o

.... • • - ;• .... • Autumn Winter l32,O0ObirdsSPring...... '5,ooo- ß 0 >32,000birds 08,000.•15,000 b•rdsß 2,000-3,000 birds 0 >32,000birds 08,000_•15,000 birdsß 2,000-3,000 birds '•' •15,000birds 3,000 b•r• • 7,000 birds ooobirds e e <,,ooobir 16,000-31,000birdsß 4,000- ß< 1,000 birds 16,000-31,000birds • 4,000-7,000birds ß < 1,000 birds • ' ' , • ras Figure2. Distributionof currentlyknown places of waderconcentrations on the CaspianCoast. Geographical names as in Figure1. Informationsources: 1, 2, 3, 5 - thepresent paper; 10 - Matyushkin1963; Rusanov et al. 1973;Bondarev & Bondarev1980; Krivonosov 1980; Poslavsky 1980; 11 - Rusanov& Krivonosov1990; 12 - Isakov& Vorobiev1940; Vengerov1973; 14 - Summerset al. 1987.

Bondarev, D.V., & Bondarev, S.D. 1980. Peculiarities of Grekov,V.S. 1965. Materialson pelecaniformbirds, waders waderdistribution through the anthropogenic andrails of the Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve. landscapesof the VolgaDelta. In: V.E.Flint (ed.), TransactionsofAzerbaijan Nature Reserves 1: 80-113. Newinformation on distribution and biology of waders, In Russian. pp. 51-53. Nauka, Moscow.In Russian. Isakov, Yu.A. & Vorobiev, K.A. 1940. A review of bird Butiev V.T., Mikheev A.V., Kostin A.B., Koblik E.A., & winteringand migrationat thesouth of the LebedevaE.A. 1989. Noteson rarebird speciesof CaspianSea. Transactionsofthe Gasan-Kuli the Caucasiancoast of theCaspian Sea, the $amur OrnithologicalReserve 1: 5-159. In Russian. river mouth,Daghestan. In: Khokhlov,A.N. (ed.) Karavaev,A.A. & Belousov,E.M. 1980. Characterof spring undated,Ornithol. resources of theNorthern Caucasus, wader migrationat the south-easternCaspian Sea. pp. 137-152.Stavropol'. In Russian. In: V.E.Flint (ed.),New information on distribution Dementiev,G.P. 1952. Birdsof the Turkmenistan. andbiology of waders, pp. 106-109.Nauka, Moscow. Ashkhabad. In Russian. In Russian. Dobrokhotov,B.E 1963.Current state of bird wintering Kazakov, B.A., Belik, V.E, Peklo, A.M. & Tilba, EA. 1981- groundat the Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve. 1983. Wadersof the NorthernCaucasus. Reports 1 Ornithologia(Moscow) 6: 355-359.In Russian. to 4. In: VestnikZoologii. 5:41-46 (1981);2:13-19 Feeny,EE, Arnold, R.W.& Bailey,R.$. 1968. Autumn (1982);6:37-43 (1982).2:47-54 (1983).] In Russian. migrationin the southCaspian region. /bis 110: 35- Kostin,Yu.B. 1983. Birdsof theCrimea. Nauka, Moscow.In 86. Russian. Gizatulin, I.I. & Tochiev, T.Yu. 1989. To the wader fauna of Krivonosov,G.A. 1980. Migrationof Ruff in the Volga Checheno-Ingushetia.In: A.N. Khokhlov(ed.), Delta. In: V.E. Flint (ed.),New informationon Ornithol.resources ofthe Northern Caucasus, pp. 30- distributionand biology of waders, pp.109-110. 34. Stavropol'.In Russian. Nauka, Moscow. In Russian.

411 International Wader Studies 10. 403-412

Matyushkin,E.N. 1963. Noteson autumnmigration of Delta. In: V.E.Flint (ed.),Fauna and ecology of wadersin the VolgaDelta. In: Faunaand ecology of waders,pp. 137-141.Moscow State Univ., Moscow. birdsin theVolga Delta and at theCaspian Coasts. In Russian. Transactionsofthe Astrakhan'Nature Reserve. 8: 295- Rusanov, G.M. & Krivonosov, G.A. 1990. To the studies of 307. In Russian. living conditons,distribution and numbersof Mikheev,A.V. 1985. Diurnalbird migrationalong the wadersat the northof the CaspianSea. westernCoast of the CaspianSea. In: A.M. Ornithologia(Moscow) 24: 158-159. In Russian. Amirkhanov(ed.), Birdsof the North-western Satunin,K.A. 1907. Materialson the knowledgeof birdsof Caucasus,pp. 5-19. Moscow. In Russian. theCaucasus region. Notes of the Caucasian Branch Mikheev,A.V. & Orlov,V.I. 1972. Winteringof waterfowl ofRussian Geogr. Soc. 26(3): 1-144. In Russian. at the Kyzyl-AgachNature Resyerve. In: S.P. Shubin,A.O. 1986. On thefauna of rarebird speciesat the Naumov (ed.),Fauna and ecology of , pp.103- Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve.In: V.E.Sokolov 117. MoscowPedagogical State Inst., Moscow. In (ed.),Abstracts of the USSR Workshop on cadastre and Russian. censusesofanimals 2: 423-424.Moscow. In Russian. Molchanova,L.V. 1989. Recreationaldevelopment of the Shubin,A.O. 1990. Winteringof wadersat the south- CaspianSea coasts. In: V.I. Korzun (ed.), westerncost of theCaspian Sea. In: N.M. Recreationalresources ofthe Caspian Sea. Problems of Chernova& Abdurakhmanov,G.M. (eds.), useand conservation, pp. 4-13. Nauka, Moscow.In Materialsof the USSR Meeting of Zoologists from Russian. PedagogicalInstitutes, Makhach-Kala 2: 249-250.In Molodovsk• A.V. 1963. Migrationof shorebirdsand non- Russian. gamewaterfowl at southernMangyshlak. Sci. Shubin,A.O. 1991a.Visible wader migration at the Notesof Gorky State Univ. Biol. Series 63: 19-21. In westerncoast of theCaspian Sea. In: A.P.Sklyarov Russian. (ed.),Materials of lOth USSR Ornithol. Conf. 2(2): Mustafaev,G.T. 1972.Winter bird population at the 300-301. In Russian. Lenkoran'lowland. Ornithologia (Moscow) ]0: 280- Shubin,A.O. 1991b.Autumn stopover of migrating 286. In Russian. wadersat the Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve. In: Mustafaev,G.T. 1974.Changes in statusof birdsat the A.P.Sklyarov (ed.), Materials of lOth USSR easternTranscaucasus during the latest100 years. Ornithol.Conf. 2(2): 301-302. In Russian. In: R.L.Boeme & V.E.Flint (eds.),Proceedings ofthe Stairnov,N.A. 1916. Observationsafter spring migration USSROrnithol. Conf. (Moscow, 1-5 February 1974), 1: of somebirds at theMangyshlak. News of the 219-221. Moscow State Univ., Moscow. In Russian. Caucasian Museum 10: 217-228. In Russian. Oleinikov, N.S., Kazakov, B.A., Belik, V.P. & Reshetnikov, Spangenberg,E.P. 1959. Somenew informationon birds Yu.I. 1973. On the wader fauna of Front-Caucasus winteringat theLenkoran' coast. Nature (Predkavkazie,the area north to the Caucasus).In: conservationand planting 1: 23-26. In Russian. V.E.Flint (ed.),Fauna and ecology of waders 2: 63-67. Summers,R.W., UnderhilL L.G., Pearson,D.I. & Scott,D.A. Moscow State Univ., Moscow. In Russian. 1987. Wadermigration systems in southernand Oliger,T.I. 1967. Somemore data on numbersof birds, easternAfrica and western . WaderStudy winteringat the Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve GroupBull. 49: 15-34. (February1963). Ornithologia(Moscow) 6: 378-379. Tugarinov,A.Ya. 1950. Springmigration of birdsat the In Russian. Talyshcoasts. In: E.N. Pavlovsk•E.V. Kozlova. Polozov, S.A., Shubin, A.O. & Mustafa, L.R. 1990. Record (eds.)In memorialof Acad. P.P. Sushkin. Collection of of vagrantRed-wattled Lapwing in Daghestan. scientificreports. Moscow-Leningrad: USSR Acd. Ornithologia(Moscow) 24: 158. In Russian. Sci.pp. 9-56. In Russian. Poslavsky,N. 1978. at the steppesof Tugarinov,A.Ya. & Kozlova-Pushkareva,E.V. 1938. Bird easternFront-Caucasus (the area north to the life at thewintering in Kyzyl-AgachNature Caucasus).In: E.V.Gvozdev (ed.), Abstracts of the Reserve.Transactions ofAzerbaijan Section of the 2ndUSSR Conf. on Birds Migration 1: 153-155. USSR Acad. Sci. Zool. Series 36: 5-110. In Russian. Nauka, Alma-Ata. In Russian. Vengerov,M.P. 1973. Wadersof westernand South- Poslavsky,A.N. 1980. Spring-summermigration of waders western Turkrnenia. In: V.E. Flint (ed.), Faunaand at the desertsclose to the CaspianSea. In: V.E. ecologyof waders 2: 23-25.Moscow State Univ., Flint (ed.),New informationon distribution and Moscow. In Russian. biologyof waders, pp. 118-119.Nauka, Moscow.In Vereschagin,N.K. 1950.Wintering and on Russian. waterfowlin Azerbaijan.Transactions ofInst. Zool. Radde,G.I. 1884. Ornithologicalfauna of theCaucasus: ofAzerbaijan Acad. Sci. Baku 14: 133-214. In Russian. taxonomicand biogeographic description ofcaucasian Zaletaev,V.S. 1963. Winteringof waterfowlat the birds. Tiffis. In Russian. Northern,Eastern and South-Easternparts of the Radde,G. & Walter,A. 1889. Die VogelTranscaspiens. CaspianSea. In: K.A. Vorobiev(ed.) Fauna and Ornis5(1): 128, 165-279. ecologyof birds in theVolga Delta and at theCaspian Rezanov, A.G. 1983. To the winter wader fauna of the Coasts.Transactions ofAstrakhan' Nature Reserve. Kyzyl-AgachNature Reserve. Ornithologia 8:349-373. In Russian. (Moscow) 18: 179. In Russian. Zlotin,R.I. 1963. Winterbird populationof the Shirvani Rusanov, G.M., Krivonosov, G.A. & Bondarev, D.V. 1973. steppe.Ornithologia (Moscow) 6: 204-209.In On thenumbers of wadersin the lowerVolga Russian.

412