Birds of Prey in the Arctic. Arctic desert - typical animals, birds
Usually, when it comes to the wildlife of the Arctic, birds are not mentioned first. And yet, it is the birds that give the white silence of this region a special charm. The ringing song of the polar sparrow - snow bunting Plectrophenax nivalis represents the arrival of true spring in the Arctic.
Its appearance at the polar stations is the same as the arrival of rooks and starlings in the villages of Central Russia. The black and white bird is perhaps the only representative of songbirds in the polar regions. This tiny traveler was carried by evil winds to the North Pole. Usually the snow bunting feeds on plant seeds, but it needs insects to feed small chicks. Where to get them in the Arctic? Of course, there are several types of mosquitoes here. There are even those who, due to undeveloped wings, are not able to fly. There are very, very many of them ... but only on warm days. Snow buntings have to make a lot of efforts to feed their offspring to the full even during the cold - for example, collecting free-living nematodes on a snowfield.
On the Arctic islands, even far from the mainland, no, no, yes, and you will meet a brood in summer partridge Lagopus mutus. It seems that these birds, typical inhabitants of the mountain tundra, do not belong here. But the sparse vegetation crushed by frost and harsh winds is quite sufficient for the existence of these chicken representatives. In winter, they cannot survive here. It is hard to imagine how much effort it takes to get to the mainland for these birds.
A male partridge in the nesting area.
And yet, in the main, the feathered kingdom of the Arctic thrives at the expense of the sea. The vast majority of northern birds are its typical inhabitants. On land, they appear only for nesting and raising chicks. The location of nesting birds here is determined mainly by the availability of safe nesting sites and available food resources. For the choice of breeding area, the latter factor is decisive. In birds that have close food ties with marine ecosystems, nesting areas are confined to marine areas with increased biological productivity, for example, to frontal zones or marginal zones of drifting ice. At the same time, many species of birds are so adapted to marine environment, to an aquatic lifestyle and to diving to great depths, which on land feel insecure and are forced, even during the breeding season, to get absolutely all the food for their chicks in the sea.
Typically, marine bird species use all the sources of food available to them in the sea, developing specific adaptations that facilitate their prey. They can be planktophages, ichthyophages and feed on benthos. Found among seabirds and omnivores.
Representatives of the petrels - fools Fulmarus glacialis - with the help of long narrow wings soar for a long time in air currents above the sea surface. In flight, they search for large accumulations of zooplankton, simultaneously using other objects as food, including fishing waste. With their beak with a beak, armed with a curved sharp hook, they are able to tear the skin of dead animals found in the sea.
A light variant of the coloring of the fulmar. Narrow long wings make it easier for the fulmar to fly in air currents, but make it difficult to land and take off from the water in calm weather.
In exceptional cases, silly people can also attack small species gulls, such as the kittiwake Rissa tridactyla, tearing pieces of muscle from living birds with their beaks.
When a source of food available for fulmars appears, they accumulate in this area of the water area. back side colonial way of life - increased aggressiveness towards their neighbors.
In the water column, auk birds hunt for small fish. Due to short and narrow wings, they do not differ in any virtuoso flight in the air - although they fly quickly, they are not able to maneuver. But their wings, in a half-bent state, allow for underwater flight and effectively pursue prey in the water column. In the Arctic seas, the most numerous species of auks is thick-billed murre Uria lomvia. On land, guillemots move with difficulty, their paws with membranes are not adapted for this, but in the air and during underwater flight they function as rudders. And one more thing: paw membranes, pierced by blood vessels, serve as an excellent heating element when incubating eggs.
The structure of the wings allows the guillemot to dive excellently, but when trying to sit on its part of the rock, it has difficulty. Often misses, especially in calm weather.
The breeding grounds of the murre are chosen on rocks inaccessible (or almost inaccessible) to four-legged predators, where the bird lays a single pear-shaped egg.
During the entire period of incubation, the guillemots keep it on their paws, covering it from above with their body, in the plumage of which a bare area of skin appears during this period - a brood spot. These birds do not build nests, and when changing partners, they roll the egg from paws to paws. And only in case of fright of the incubating parent, the egg can end up on a rock, often covered with ice. Often guillemots nest on sloping rocky areas, where such transfer from paws to paws is the only way to save the egg.
It is noteworthy that the eggs do not have camouflage coloration. In the presence of a variety of spots, specks and "squiggles", the general color background may be white, bright green or dull bluish hues. The constant presence of one of the parents reduces the importance of egg color for protection from predators. Guillemots are obligate colonial birds; they can nest and breed normally only in colonies, that is, in clusters of birds of their own species. For normal reproduction, they need to hear calls (acoustic background) and see (visual background) birds of their own species. This is probably why the booming cries of guillemots are carried far across the neighborhood. Such a method of nesting in dense colonies reduces the possibility of death of offspring from the activity of raptors, which in high latitudes include, first of all, large gulls. During rockfalls and landslides, unsuccessful rallies, guillemots are often injured and even die. At the colonies, arctic foxes prey on them.
It is generally believed that the pear-shaped shape of the egg is associated with the nesting of birds on the rocks and prevents the eggs from rolling in the event of a flight of birds. This is not entirely true. Everyone who worked in the colonies of guillemots is well aware that in the event of a flight of birds due to a sudden fright (collapse of a rock, sound signal of a ship, etc.), a massive fall of eggs from the rocks is observed. A free-lying egg, when pushed, still moves along a gentle arc. The pear-shaped form of the egg in this case does not help the birds at all.
During the period of mass laying of eggs, guillemots climb to the marginal areas of the colonies and steal them. Some of the eggs are hidden for the future.
But this form is optimal with a similar method of incubation, when the egg is on the paws of a bird. Special experiments have shown that in areas densely populated by guillemots, birds can recognize an egg that has shifted along an arc within a diameter of 50-70 cm as their own. An egg that has rolled out beyond these limits, the birds cannot recognize as their own and are thrown. Successful breeding seasons for guillemots do not occur every year. Feathered chicks, not yet capable of flight, leave the colony by jumping into the sea, often from a great height. Underdeveloped flight feathers of the wing, with frequent strokes, allow them to soften the impact on the water, where they are met by an invitingly screaming male. From the moment the fledgling splashed down, he takes all care of him. But in cold years, when the sea around the colonies is clogged with ice, the chicks may not reach open water. These seasons are mass death offspring.
The chicks go down to the water, moreincapable of the fieldthat. In cold seasons, they have to make a long journey through the ice fields to get to open water. In this enterprise full of dangers, they are accompanied and protected by the male.
In arctic latitudes, the main food of thick-billed murres are pelagic fish (most often polar cod) and small crustaceans. In pursuit of food, guillemots are able to dive to great depths, significantly exceeding one hundred meters. But most often they find accumulations of available food in shallower layers of water. It is still not clear how guillemots identify prey in the absence of light at great depths or in surface waters polar night. Studies of the structure of the murre's eyes have shown that they are not adapted for night vision. Fears are often expressed that in the conditions of the warming of the Arctic, the food base of guillemots will change so much that this will lead to the degradation of their colonies. However, so far in the colonies where the number of birds is controlled, no decrease in nesting guillemots has been observed in recent years, on the contrary, in some colonies it is increasing. Due to methodological difficulties, it is very difficult to estimate the total number of thick-billed murres living in the Arctic, but it is clear that at present it can be several million individuals.
Broods of guillemots congregate to rest even in small areas of water, allowing you to get a little respite from predator attacks.
Along with thick-billed guillemots, another species lives in the Arctic mass view auk birds - Little auk Alle alle. It is a specialized consumer of zooplankton. Small black and white birds, weighing only 200-250 g, like fairy-tale gnomes, inhabit rock screes. There, in the crevices, among the stones, they equip a primitive nesting chamber, where, in the absence of any lining, their only bluish egg is located.
Little auk colony on about. Hooker Franz Josef Land.
In such nesting conditions, the neighbors do not see each other, therefore, they regularly hold mass gatherings on the highest stones of the scree. Such places are called "clubs".
Lurik is a colonial species of birds and normally feels itself only in the company of its own kind.
Another way of communication, which little auks resort to, is constant vocalization. Birds continuously emit shrill trills, which are quite easy to spot their colony. The social activity of little auks is peculiarly manifested in specific circular flights - "carousels". There is an assumption that in this way, at the very beginning of the season, the birds synchronize the reproduction of individual pairs in the colony, and the young individuals who first visited this scree select a place for future nesting and get to know their neighbors.
The closed nesting method and the extremely high social activity of birds cause significant difficulties in counting birds in colonies. As a result, the number of little auks in the settlements is determined with rough tolerances with regular counts of individuals in the "carousels" and in the colony. Total population little auks in the Arctic can be estimated at several million individuals.
Little auks swim and dive well, catching dense concentrations of pelagic calanus crustacean. It is saturated with fat and is a high-calorie food. But the calanus is very small, and little auks are forced to catch it until the sublingual sac is completely full. They do not have special devices (filtering and filtering) for mass trapping of crustaceans. Probably, the birds stuff the sublingual sac with prey, seizing the crustaceans one by one. It follows that such a method of hunting can be effective only with very dense accumulations of prey.
The little auk brings the caught crustaceans to the chicks in the sublingual pouch. With the help of such outgrowths on the palate, it keeps the calanus crustaceans when caught.
Little auks are a real decoration of the Arctic, enlivening its coastal areas with their polyphony. After the chicks descend to the water, which will also be accompanied by males before rising to the wing, the colonies are rapidly emptying, and silence hangs over the rocky screes.
Another representative of the Chistikov family, in fact, who gave him the name - that's what it is called scraper Cepphus grille. Unlike guillemots and little auks, guillemots do not nest in large colonies. Their sparse settlements usually consist of several pairs and very rarely reach a size of several dozen individuals. Birds lead a secretive lifestyle. In the first half of summer, their presence can be recognized only by the manifestations of social activity on the water in quiet evenings and nights. Guillemots gather in groups and display elements of mating behavior. They arrange their nests in cracks and crevices of rocks along the edges of bird rookeries, less often in scree.
As a rule, guillemots lay two eggs. The hatched chicks are fed with small bottom fish, crustaceans and polychaetes. Fully fledged young guillemots, left by adults, go to the water and immediately begin to lead an independent lifestyle.
One of the classic representatives of the Arctic avifauna and important forming elements of bird rookeries is a small gull kittiwake. Often it is called a three-toed gull (only three fingers are fully developed) and a black-footed talker. But in Russian ornithology, its Pomeranian name, kittiwake, has taken root. She received it on the Murmansk coast of the Kola Peninsula, where in the food sense it is closely related to capelin. The population of Murman, who actively collected bird eggs, noticed a characteristic feature: during the harvest years of capelin, kittiwake nests in bird colonies in large quantities, and in nests she often has clutches of two or three olive-brown eggs.
In the Arctic regions of the Barents Sea, capelin appears infrequently, and kittiwakes get other food there. But even a full clutch of three eggs in kittiwakes can be seen extremely rarely in these areas. Usually it makes up one or two eggs here. The average size laying kittiwake is an excellent indicator of the availability of food for birds in the pre-breeding period. In seasons when the availability of food for kittiwakes is very limited, non-nesting occurs. In this case, most kittiwakes occupy the colony, often even restore nests, but do not start laying eggs.
Kittiwake is also an obligate-colonial species and can normally breed only in groups with a minimum of 10-20 pairs of its own species. She was also nicknamed the talker for a reason. In the colony, birds lead an active lifestyle, constantly screaming and conflicting with their neighbors.
In the colony, kittiwakes are characterized by demonstrative behavior, which often immediately turns into scandals between neighboring pairs.
At the same time, these scandals and demonstrative behavior in the colonies have their own biological meaning. Such activity contributes to the synchronization of bird breeding in the colony. Bird nests are arranged on ledges of steep rocks, using the remains of vegetation, moss and mud as building material. The laying of the birds incubate in turn, sitting very tightly. In the Arctic regions, where the feeding possibilities of birds are limited (birds catch only the surface layer of the sea), there are distinct differences in the foraging behavior of the sexes. Males make long search flights. Their prey is often small fish, mainly polar cod. Females leave the nests for a shorter time. Most often, they feed near glaciers and nearby ice fields, where zooplankton is immobilized and accumulates at the junctions of fresh melt water and salty sea water. They are the ones most often fed by female kittiwakes.
At the junction of sea water and fresh runoff from melting glaciers, immobilized zooplankton accumulates, which kittiwakes constantly feed on.
It is clear that in cold seasons, when the spaces around the colonies are filled with ice, kittiwakes have to spend much more time foraging. The chicks get much less of it, and the phenomenon of socially determined mortality is manifested in the colonies. Chicks fight for access to food, and usually the strongest and most aggressive chick wins. Fully feathered kittiwake chicks gradually leave their native colonies and form flocks consisting of almost only young birds. The warming of the Arctic is likely to provide kittiwakes with more high-calorie food, and their numbers in the region will increase. At present, the number of kittiwakes in the Russian sector of the Arctic can reach one million individuals.
A young kittiwake has just left its parent's nest.
But the real symbol of the Arctic is still another gull - white Pagophila eburnea. Of all the species of seabirds, it is she who is most closely associated with ice. The breeding area of the ivory gull is located within homogeneous ice regions and is limited by the ice regime and seasonal ice conditions of the sea area. The determining factor for choosing a nesting site for the white gull is the absence of four-legged predators - arctic foxes. For breeding, she prefers coastal tundra, low-lying areas of islands near glaciers or sea ice.
The whole life of seagulls is connected with arctic ice, they even form colonies near glaciers.
Unlike kittiwakes, the ivory gull is a facultative colonial seabird species. In fact, it can reproduce normally both in colonies of its own species and as single pairs. Existence in the harsh conditions of the Arctic has left its mark on white gulls. They are characterized by high interannual fluctuations in the number of nesting birds, the abandonment of colonies and the formation of new ones during one season, and a cardinal change in nesting sites. In auspicious years, celebrate early dates breeding, high density of nesting birds and the presence of clutches of three eggs.
The white gull is an omnivore. Among the ice in the sea, she extracts polar cod, crustaceans. Actively feeds on the corpses of animals, picks up the remains of food and their excrement. Often, these birds visit landfills near residential settlements, looking for food waste. They also have cases of cannibalism.
In the course of research by the Russian scientist M.V. Gavrilo in last years in the Russian sector of the Arctic, the number of white gulls was determined at 11-13 thousand pairs. It was not possible to identify pronounced trends in the development of the Russian population. But it is known that there are very real threats to this species, primarily organochlorine pollution. White gulls have one of the highest levels of these chemical compounds among Arctic birds. One of the possible threats to white gulls may be the factor of warming of the Arctic regions. For these reasons, the species is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Ivory gull chick at the nest
Larus hyperboreus - this species Gulls are one of the largest seabirds in the Arctic. Distributed circumpolar. The burgomaster belongs to the facultative-colonial species of seabirds. Breeds in single pairs and sparse settlements. Prefers to choose sites for nesting near colonies of other bird species or in estuaries. Large colonies, up to a hundred pairs or more, are rarely formed, as a rule, only in areas rich in available food.
The burgomaster is omnivorous. In the sea, among the ice, it catches cod and crustaceans. Uses dead animals, fishing waste, food waste near residential premises as food. In bird colonies, it actively destroys nests and steals chicks.
Burgomaster who stole an egg from a guillemot. He can swallow such an egg whole.
If necessary, the burgomaster is able to produce adult guillemots, kittiwakes and guillemots. Cases of cannibalism are typical for the burgomaster. It is the main raptor in Arctic seabird colonies.
The burgomaster is able to get an adult kittiwake and even a guillemot. But more often it uses injured and dead birds as food. A pair of burgomasters near a dead thick-billed murre.
It builds massive nests from plant remains on the coasts on the tops of large stones, in bird rookeries along the periphery of the colonies. A full clutch consists of three olive-brown eggs with dark spots. Nests actively protect against terrestrial predators.
During a steep dive, it can beat the violator of the borders of the nesting area (arctic fox, human, etc.) with its paws. Nestlings are successfully fed with any food available in the nesting area.
A hearty burgomaster who dined.
In many areas of the Arctic, during the breeding season, you can meet seabirds with a peculiar way of life - Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus. This close relative of gull birds, a bright representative of the Pomornikov family, is distributed circumpolarly in the Arctic regions. Using a virtuoso maneuverable flight, the skua has adapted to catch small birds and take food from other birds. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Pomors called him "robber", "crowbar", "correct officer". These names reflected the thieves and robbers of the behavior of the bird.
The Arctic Skua nests in low-lying areas of coastal tundra, most often in single pairs. Spends a lot of time in the air, arranging "catch-up" games. Flights are accompanied by characteristic cries, vaguely reminiscent of the cries of cats. Each pair occupies a certain territory, which it actively protects both from third-party birds of its own species and from other border violators, including humans.
Skua actively defends the nesting territory from enemies, often hitting the intruder with its paws.
When a predator appears, it either attacks, striking with its paws from a dive, or actively imitates a wounded animal, accompanying its demonstrative behavior with a “chicken” squeak.
The nest is an unremarkable excavation in the ground without any lining. A full clutch consists of two olive-brown eggs. As easy as it is to spot the skuas themselves in the vicinity of their site, it is just as difficult to spot their nest or lurking chick in the area.
It is problematic to estimate the real number of Arctic Skuas in the Arctic regions. It is unlikely that it exceeds several tens of thousands of breeding pairs. There are currently no significant threats to Arctic Skua populations.
Among arctic birds, few species contain the term "polar" in their names. These include arctic tern Sterna paradisaea. In the Arctic zone, the Arctic tern is distributed circumpolarly. Of all the terns, this is the most northern view. Appearance the Arctic tern is memorable - a small white-gray bird with a dark cap, scarlet beak and paws, characteristic sharp wings and a "swallow" tail. Like all colonial birds, it is "talkative". The species-specific cry of the Arctic tern "Kirrya-ya-ya" can be constantly heard over its nesting area. Actively protects its offspring, striking with a sharp beak when attacking.
It nests in low-lying areas. The nest is a regular hole. The maximum clutch size is three eggs. Sometimes there are clutches with four and five eggs, but in these cases it may well be double clutches.
The Arctic tern feeds on small objects: small fish and various forms zooplankton. Looks out for prey in the water column, hovering over it with characteristic fluttering wings. Having found prey, it tries to catch it during “impact diving”.
Arctic terns catch fish and small crustaceans. After a hasty throw, the tern flies away with the amphipod in its beak.
The method of hunting raises the question of whether arctic terns have polarized vision (this is the ability to see objects in the water at different angles of illumination, despite glare and reflections) and the need for sufficient illumination of the feeding area. Leaves nesting areas in early August, perhaps the first of the entire complex of arctic birds. In mid-August, birds appear in the expanses of the North Atlantic. The Arctic tern gained public fame due to the length of the routes and the remoteness of the wintering areas. Arctic terns spend winter in Antarctic waters. The average length of their migration routes during one annual cycle, according to the Russian researcher A.E. Volkov, amounted to more than 84 thousand km, and the duration of wintering in the Antarctic regions was more than 120 days.
Downy chick of Arctic tern
Among the seabirds of the Arctic, there is also the famous species of sea ducks - Somateria mollissima. The distribution is circumpolar. A large sea duck (weighing about two kg) has pronounced sexual dimorphism.
A male eider in a contrasting uncamouflage outfit.
The common eider is an excellent diver, although it does not show records for diving depth. Its usual “working” depth is within ten meters. When diving, it actively uses wings, demonstrating “underwater flight”, but when it reaches, it uses only webbed feet when moving in the water column. With the help of a powerful beak, it captures available benthic organisms, literally tearing them out of the ground. Among the caught objects, mollusks, crustaceans, starfish and urchins are most often found. When possible, eiders also catch fish. If in the southern regions of the Barents Sea molluscs play the leading role in the composition of feed, then in the high-latitude regions of the range the importance of crustaceans sharply increases.
The common eider nests, as a rule, on islands where there are no terrestrial predators. The number of eggs in the clutch may vary, but in the northern regions of the range there are usually 3-4. The female incubates the clutch.
The female common eider in her brown plumage looks distinctly on the ice before nesting. But it will be difficult to detect when incubating masonry.
It rarely leaves the nest, only to get drunk. During the incubation period, she does not feed. The eider's nest is lined, which in the last century was considered as an unsurpassed insulation. With the development of chemical analogues, its importance has noticeably decreased, and eiderdown products from the category of "workers" smoothly migrated to the category of "status".
No fluff can save a clutch from a polar bear. When it appears, the eiders fly to the water, and everything that the bear does not eat will be eaten by the burgomasters.
The current state of eider nests in the Russian sector of the Arctic is unclear. In recent years, the southern regions of the Barents Sea and the islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago have been explored to a greater extent. At the same time, nothing is known about the abundance and state of nesting sites of the common eider on Novaya Zemlya. The total number of the world population is about 3-4 million individuals. Among the threats to the common eider, the factor of concern during further development can be considered as quite real. arctic zone, for individual populations and nesting groups - oil pollution of the water area. Possible warming in the Arctic regions does not pose a serious danger to the populations of the common eider. The adaptive potential of the species is quite high, as demonstrated by the history of the establishment of the common eider in the Black Sea.
Once upon a time, products made from eider down were classified as “workers” among the inhabitants of the North and polar explorers. Now they tend to be seen as "status" things. Most eider breeding sites are included where any economic activity strictly regulated. In other areas of the northern seas, the search for eider nests is laborious and, subject to all measures for the protection of birds, does not justify the cost.
Outside of the breeding season, during seasonal migrations and wintering, most colonial sea bird species adhere to water areas with high biological productivity confined to various frontal zones in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. Some species of seabirds are closely associated with ice biotopes. Species such as little auk, guillemot and ivory gull adhere to the ice edge zone with polynyas, clearings and leads, as well as the marginal zone of drifting ice. The roaming and wintering areas of some populations of seabirds, for example, the common eiders of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land, have not yet been established. There are only assumptions of varying degrees of validity about the areas of their localization. The validity of these assumptions can be revealed only in the course of further studies of the avifauna of the Arctic.
The photographs were taken by Yu.V. Krasnov.
Klokova Maria
The presentation contains material about the birds of the Arctic
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Birds of the Arctic Ocean high school No. 3 "G. Kimry Klokova Maria
In summer, many seabirds nest on the rocky shores of the islands of the Arctic Ocean: guillemots, guillemots and gulls different types. In spring, birds fly to their nesting sites. They are located on the ledges of steep rocks in huge colonies, forming "bird colonies". Such settlements can number hundreds of thousands of individuals. This diversity of species is explained by the fact that the waters of the Arctic are unusually rich in plankton and fish, so all birds are in a hurry to hatch their chicks during the short Arctic summer.
Arctic tern Signs: very similar to a small river tern - its length is 35 cm, while that of a river tern is 38 cm. beak is yellow with a black tip. But in winter, when the beak of both species is black, this sign disappears, sometimes in spring, during molting, it also turns out to be ineffective. The Arctic tern has very short legs, a light gray coat on the chest, and bright white cheeks. wing tips ( outer side primary flight feathers) when viewed from below the Arctic Tern appear bordered in gray. In the common tern, these feathers are dark gray and black. In winter plumage, the forehead and crown of Arctic terns are white, while in common terns only the forehead is light. The voice of the Arctic tern is harsh, especially when this bird is defending its nest. Distribution: The arctic tern succeeds the common tern in the north, although there are areas where both species coexist and even nest in the same mixed colonies, such as off the German coasts of the Baltic and North Seas. Arctic terns are found in all countries around the North Pole. In the skerries of the Baltic Sea, these birds nest on the highest cliffs, while the common tern prefers islands near calm waters near the seashore. In the north, Arctic tern breeds on flat rocky islands, on pebbly coasts, in sand dunes, on beaches, in lichen tundra close to the coast and in similar places. Sometimes some individuals can be found on the banks of rivers and lakes.
Black guillemots Distribution: The common guillemot is common in cold seas around the entire North Pole. In Europe, its nesting area extends as far south as Ireland. In the Baltic Sea, the common guillemot lives even in the Gulf of Finland, where the water is almost fresh and freezes in winter. Then the guillemots migrate south to the coast of Germany. In the North Sea, guillemots are almost never found. The common guillemot is not a bird of the open sea, it lives in calm waters under the protection of islands located near the coast, in fjords and in shallow waters. Birds live here all year round. The guillemot nests between boulders and among rocks, that is, in the same places as the great auk, which competes with the guillemot in the fight for nesting sites. But usually the guillemot nests lower than the razorbill, most often immediately behind the surf line, and only sometimes at a distance of up to 3 km from the coast. In 8 bird colonies, the guillemot settles among the boulders at the foot of the rocks. Sometimes on the islands covered with scattering of boulders there are colonies in which only common guillemots nest. Reproduction: nest in colonies of several dozen pairs or simply separate pairs at the foot of rocky bird rookeries. Partners are very tender to each other: in the language of many fishermen, guillemots are called doves. Unlike their relatives, common guillemots usually lay two eggs, although sometimes only one chick survives. Both parents incubate the chicks; Interestingly, the yolk of auks' eggs is bright red. The incubation time of the chicks is from 21 to 24 days, breeding occurs in June and early July. Often a bird sitting on eggs can even be picked up. The hatched chick has a dark gray down and stays in the burrow for 35 to 39 days, like chicks and other birds nesting in caves and burrows. But when after that the chicks leave the nest, they already know how to fly well and are almost completely independent. Food: as a rule, common guillemots look for food at the bottom of water bodies. Therefore, they never move away from the coast. The main food of guillemots is all kinds of crustaceans, marine worms, molluscs and polyps. If you throw a stone into the water next to a guillemot, then sometimes the bird immediately dives and raises it to the surface in its beak. In search of food, birds rarely dive for more than 30 seconds to escape danger. The sticks can stay underwater for up to 2 minutes. Signs: slightly smaller than the guillemot, length 34 cm, wing length 68 cm. White spot. In winter, the underside of the plumage is white, and the top is covered with dark spots. With such a difference between summer and winter plumage, birds look very bizarre during molting. During the rest, the guillemots sit on rocks and ice blocks, straightening their body up and bending their neck in the shape of the letter S, while the birds are so gullible that in the old days hunters killed them with long lances right from the boats passing by. When walking, the guillemots waddle heavily, their flight is fast, reminiscent of the flight of dragonflies, the guillemots take off after a short acceleration through the water. Under water, birds row their wings and steer their tails. Like other seabirds, white-tailed eagles prey on guillemots from the air, chasing their victims until the tired birds can no longer dive and cease to resist. The voice is quiet.
Guillemots We all know that chicken eggs are oval. The same form and duck, and pigeon, and ostrich. The same eggs are laid by most other birds. But bird eggs come in a different form. In some they are round, and in guillemots they look like a pear. Kaira lays eggs in the shape of a pear, because she is forced to adapt to the natural conditions in which she lives. Guillemot is found in the north. In summer, autumn and winter, it lives far from the coast, in the open sea and feeds on fish. In spring, the guillemot moves ashore and settles on practically inaccessible rocks. The guillemot does not build nests and lays its eggs right on the rocky ledges of rocks. Round eggs would immediately roll down from there and break, and oval ones would break, so guillemots lay small eggs that look like a pear. Such eggs roll only in a circle and are held on small rocky ledges. After the female guillemots lay an egg, they, like other birds, incubate it in turn with the male. Birds in this case carefully lay the egg on the web of their paws. One of the parents sits on the egg and warms it, while the other flies into the sea to feed. Sometimes they both fly away to feed, and when they return, in some incomprehensible way they find their egg among thousands of similar eggs belonging to other guillemots. Obviously, guillemots recognize their eggs by color. In guillemots, the eggs are usually painted in the color of the rocks: grayish and spotty, but there are no two eggs that are completely identical in shade. After the chick hatches from the egg, he is no longer afraid of height. Murmur chicks, not even able to fly yet, can jump into the sea from a cliff up to 40 meters.
White Gulls Not all migratory birds northern hemisphere fly south in winter. The pink gull, which lives in the north-east of Siberia and in Greenland, flies, on the contrary, to the north when frost sets in. There are many places on the coast of the Arctic Ocean where open water is preserved, not completely covered with ice, and here pink gulls spend the winter, feeding on fish and crustaceans.
It is located on the northernmost outskirts of Asia and North America, including all the islands in the Arctic basin that are included in the polar geographic zone. The climate is arctic, with long and severe winters, summers are short and cold. Seasons don't exist. During the polar night - winter, and during the polar day - summer. Average temperatures are -10 to -35°, dropping to -50°. In summer - from 0° to + 5°. There is little precipitation (200-300 mm per year).
Vegetation is sparse, so animal world Arctic deserts are relatively poor: these are the Arctic wolf, seal, walrus, seal, lemming, musk ox (musk ox), arctic fox, polar bear, reindeer, etc.; birds - guillemots, puffins, eiders, pink gulls, snowy owls, etc. Cetaceans are a separate group, for which the conditions of the Arctic do not create any problems.
The most numerous inhabitants of the harsh northern region are birds.
The pink gull is a fragile creature, with a weight of 250 grams and a body length of 35 cm, feels quite confident and freely spends harsh winters in the tundra, or above the sea surface, which is covered with drifting ice floes. Often joins the meals of larger predators.
Guillemot is a black and white bird that nests on high sheer cliffs and spends the winter in the ice without experiencing much discomfort.
The common eider is a northern duck that can easily dive in icy water to depths of up to 20 meters.
The most ferocious and largest among birds is the polar owl. A ruthless predator with beautiful yellow eyes, snow-white plumage preys on other birds, rodents, and sometimes on cubs of larger animals, such as arctic foxes.
Typical animals of the arctic deserts:
cetaceans
The narwhal is interesting for its long horn protruding from its mouth, which is an ordinary tooth, only with a length of 3 meters and a weight of 10 kg. Photo: One for all and all for one 🙂
The bowhead whale is a relative of the narwhal. But he is many times larger than him, and instead of a strange tooth, there is a whalebone in his mouth with a huge tongue, which is convenient for licking stuck plankton.
The polar dolphin or beluga whale is a large animal weighing up to 2 tons, with a length of up to 6 meters, feeding on fish.
The killer whale ranks first among the largest and strongest marine predators in the Arctic waters, where it preys on beluga whales, walruses, seals and seals.
Beasts
Seals are animals that make up a special Arctic cohort that has been living in this region for thousands of years.
This species includes the harp seal with a very beautiful patterned skin.
The Arctic - ice expanses, endless snow, permafrost. It seems that living beings have no place in the realm of cold, but this is not so. Let's find out which animals are the northernmost in the world.
Birds
Many birds live in the northern territories. Most of them fly away to spend the winter in warmer climes, some breed in other regions. The legs of waterfowl are devoid of feathers, but are permeated with blood vessels - this is a protection against hypothermia. The plumage of arctic birds is often light, which allows them to camouflage themselves against the background of snow.
The body length of the bird is about 35 cm. The pink gull feeds on insects, small mollusks, and during the migration period, fish and crustaceans.
Birds of medium size: from 38 to 46 cm. They feed on small fish from 5 to 15 cm long, crustaceans, molluscs.
There are thin-billed and thick-billed varieties of murre
The bird belongs to ducks, but is larger than its counterparts - 50–71 cm. The eider feeds on small marine life, including fish.
With light elastic down, the eiders insulate the clothes of polar explorers and climbers
The size of the bird reaches 65–70 cm. The polar owl is an active predator, it hunts small animals and birds, and does not neglect fish and carrion.
Another name for a snowy owl is white
The body length of the arctic tern is 36-43 cm. Birds hunt for fish, crustaceans, mollusks, insects, earthworms. Berries may also be eaten at nesting sites.
Every year, the arctic tern flies for wintering from the Arctic to the Antarctic, due to these flights, the bird observes two summers every year
The diet of birds is predominantly vegetable. The size of white partridges is 35-38 cm.
From the northern regions - the tundra, the Arctic islands - ptarmigans fly south for wintering
Atlantic puffin
Birds feed mainly on fish, sometimes they also eat small mollusks and shrimps. The size of the Atlantic puffin is 30–35 cm.
The Russian name "dead end" comes from the word "stupid" and is associated with the massive, rounded shape of the bird's beak.
White geese are medium-sized, from 60 to 75 cm long. They feed on plants.
On Russian territory white goose distributed on Wrangel Island, in the northeast of Yakutia and Chukotka
They feed almost exclusively on small fish. The length of loons is from 53 to 91 cm.
Loons are waterfowl and spend their entire lives on or near water.
The size of the bird is 56–69 cm. The diet of the black goose consists of plant foods.
In Russia, there is an Atlantic subspecies of the black goose that nests on Franz Josef Land
Waterfowl
Seals living in the Far North have a thick fat layer under their skin, which serves as thermal insulation. Underwater mammals such as whales are also large in body mass.
The length of adult animals is up to 1.8 m, and the weight is from 120 to 140 kg. The harp seal's diet includes fish and invertebrates.
Harp seals are otherwise called coots, and their cubs are pups
One of the largest real seals and the largest in the fauna of Russia. Body length - up to 2.5 m. It feeds mainly on invertebrates and bottom fish.
Another name for the sea hare is bearded seal
Adult individuals reach 1.85 m in length and 132 kg of weight. The common seal, like other subspecies, feeds mainly on fish, and sometimes invertebrates, crustaceans and mollusks.
Two subspecies of the common seal - European and insular - are listed in the Red Book
The length of adult animals is from 1.1 to 1.5 m. The ringed seal is a close relative of the common seal.
The White Sea subspecies of the ringed seal lives in the Arctic Ocean
Huge animals, the length of males can reach 4.5 m, females - 3.7 m. The basis of the diet of the walrus is benthic invertebrates, as well as some species of fish. They can also attack seals.
The weight of walruses is up to 2 tons for males and up to 1 ton for females
The maximum recorded length of the animal is 22 m, and the weight can reach 100 tons. Bowhead whales feed on plankton by filtering water through whalebone plates.
The bowhead whale dives to a depth of 200 m and can stay underwater for up to 40 minutes.
The body length of an adult narwhal usually reaches 3.8–4.5 m, and of newborns - 1–1.5 m. Narwhals feed mainly on cephalopods, to a lesser extent on crustaceans and fish.
A protrusion on the snout of a narwhal is used as a bludgeon to stun, possibly also allowing you to sense changes in water pressure and temperature.
The males of the animal reach a length of 10 m and have a mass of up to 8 tons, females - up to 8.7 m in length. The killer whale is a predator with a wide range of food, it can eat fish and cephalopods, as well as seals, dolphins, and whales.
Killer whales are dolphin, not cetacean
The basis of the animal's diet is fish and, to a lesser extent, crustaceans and cephalopods. The largest male beluga whales reach 6 m in length and 2 tons in weight, females are smaller.
Beluga skin color changes with age: newborns are blue and dark blue, after a year they become gray and bluish-gray, individuals older than 3-5 years are pure white
land animals
Animals of the Arctic have thicker fur coats that keep them warm in harsh conditions. Most of them white color- this helps animals to hide from predators, and predators, in turn, to be invisible while hunting in the snowy expanses.
The body length of males is 2.1-2.6 m, females - 1.9-2.4 m. Musk oxen are herbivores, most of the year they feed on dry plants that they dig out from under the snow.
Another name for the musk ox is the musk ox.
The size of the animal reaches 2–2.2 m, but the tundra is smaller. The value depends on the abundance of food. Reindeer feed on plants, most of the time they get food from under the snow.
IN North America this deer is called caribou
The animal is of medium size, the body length of adult males is 140-188 cm, the height at the withers is 76-112 cm, and the weight is 56-150 kg. The females are slightly smaller. Snow sheep are herbivores.
Other names for bighorn sheep are chubuk or bighorn
The length of the predator reaches 3 m, weight up to 1 ton. The main prey of the polar bear is seals, walruses and other marine animals.
The white gull is a bird that lives permanently in the Arctic. They even say about her that this is a polar bear, only in feathers, she is so connected with high latitudes. Even its number is comparable to the most important polar predator, and they often live side by side. The ivory gull is also affected by climate change in the Arctic.
Polar bear, only in feathers
Photographer Artem Kelarev worked for several months on Alexandra Land, the westernmost island of Franz Josef Land. And, of course, he really wanted to photograph the famous white seagull. And when he finally saw this bird, he was very afraid to frighten it away. But the bird didn't care. “They, the infection, are practically not afraid. I saw a big seagull, it was crawling near the helicopter pilots' platform. At first I shot from afar, I thought it would get scared, then closer and closer, then already from five meters. As a result, I was already tired of filming, and she did not even think to fly away. Less frightened at the FJL, of course, they are animals. The same foxes. And birds. I shot another white gull in flight. An important one flew by on her own business, ”says Artem.
"A very interesting object worthy of attention. Not due to personal predilections, but also due to objective reasons," - however, the deputy director for scientific work national park"Russian Arctic", ornithologist Maria Gavrilo does not hide the fact that she has a particularly reverent attitude towards the white gull. This bird is purely Arctic, snow-white, as it should be for a permanent Arctic inhabitant. Even during wintering, which can be called so rather relatively, the white gull does not leave the territory covered with ice. “This species always sticks to the zone where there is drifting sea ice. And if you make geometric constructions, the distribution area, the area where the species breeds, then the breeding area of the white gull is much closer to the pole than that of the polar bear, ”Maria Gavrilo says that this bird is the same symbol of the Arctic as the polar bear. And both of them are peaks food chain, and sometimes the white gull rises even higher, eating up the bear, which became the prey of its fellow tribesman.
Next to the bear
According to the IUCN ( international union nature conservation - Approx. TASS), from 22 to 31 thousand polar bears live in the Arctic. Gulls are considered in pairs, in general, each polar bear gets a white gull. “My estimate is about 11,000 to 13,000 couples in Russia.
Norway now produces 2,000 pairs in Svalbard.”
Maria Gavrilo says the last time these birds, listed in the Russian and IUCN Red Data Books, were counted across the Arctic was in 2006. Then it was revealed that 80% of white gulls live in its Russian part. Since then, in Norway, they try to count birds every year, but in Russia, as it turns out, mostly in parallel with some other work.
Nikolai Gernet, as a state inspector, accompanied several tourist flights to the North Pole. He says that he has an ambivalent attitude towards the white gull. “Sharks have stick fish, and polar bears have white gulls,” Nikolai explains. - When from an icebreaker, for example, we see a bear, then several white gulls are sure to hang out next to it. They are waiting for him to catch someone, eat the fat, and they will get the meat. There may be one or two, or maybe 10-15. If the polar bear is full, then the seagulls do not sit on it. He moves away from the prey, they fly up, start eating meat and - they are seagulls - swear among themselves. But this bird in Nikolai also causes respect. “Okay, in the summer, but she lives here, in the Arctic, all the time. You tell tourists about it, they immediately imbue it, they say - super!
The fox is scarier than the bear
The first ivory gull colony in what is now the Russian part of the Arctic was described by Briton Frederick Jackson during his 1894–97 expedition to Franz Josef Land. On Cape Mary Harmsworth of the island of Alexandra Land, according to his observations, some absolutely incredible number of birds nested.
“According to this description, it follows that several thousand pairs nested there! It was possible. It was the largest colony, but after that there were no data, just no one visited,” Maria Gavrilo says that employees of the Acoustic Institute could visit the cape, which there was a base on the island, but the island is large and it was not possible to find out whether a colony existed there in the future.
"She attracts attention, she is large, beautiful, spectacular, flashy, it is impossible to miss her. This colony is no more, there is no colony on the Isle of May - on the southernmost border, there is no flat colony on Rudolph Island in the German Cape area," says Maria.
As the ornithologist explains, the specificity of the white gull is that it preferred small flat islands or low-lying capes covered by a glacier to equip its nests. 95% of the Russian population nested in large colonies in such places. But these gulls are vulnerable to predators, mainly arctic foxes. Like other colonial birds, because of this, they chose places for colonies where there are no predators or the probability of their appearance is low - small islands where the Arctic fox should not be in summer. “He comes across the ice, but does not stay for the summer, because there is no normal food for him - first of all, lemmings. And the area of this island cannot feed the polar fox. Maybe some crazy one, of course, stay, but this is not the norm, ”Maria notes. A bear could go through such colonies, but for him the eggs of a seagull or the bird itself under normal conditions is not food, but something like a dessert.
“When a beloved seal lies on the ice, the bear will not bother with the colony. And the largest colony in Russia and in the world on Severnaya Zemlya, on Domashny Island, it was right on the path of polar bears. But seagulls have nested there since 1930 each year, that means it's not a hindrance for them." But in recent years, there has been less ice in the summer, there are more and more bears on the islands, who, in the absence of "bread", have to eat "cakes", even if they are very small.
Scattering of colonies
Now the white gull is trying to adapt to the changing conditions of the Arctic. At first, scientists practically lost seagulls on Svalbard - there were no familiar colonies on the plane, and ornithologists decided that there were fewer birds. In recent years, Norwegian researchers have been literally combing their archipelago with aerial surveys, and as a result, it turned out that large colonies scattered into numerous small ones, and those, in turn, moved to the rocks.
True, if kittiwakes and guillemots build nests on narrow ledges and ledges, where not a single fox will stick, then the white gull needs a more spacious cornice. However, the birds find an option for new housing. The same phenomenon is now being recorded in the Russian archipelagos - seagulls are trying to move.
"On Alexandra (the island of Alexandra's Land - TASS note), there is now trouble on all sides, either bears or dogs. Where there were colonies, lands were seized for construction, for the infrastructure of the Ministry of Defense. In the Kara Sea, flat colonies that were on Domashny Island, the birds were most likely chased away by a bear. summer ice little, bears experience difficulties in obtaining food, remain on land, do not leave on ice, for them in these conditions any prey, including birds, becomes significant. Therefore, from Domashny, the colony moved to Golomyanny Island, where the weather station is, they sat under the house, where people chase bears. It’s good that the supply is normal now, bird eggs are not a help in nutrition, it was the polar explorers who used to collect them.”
Recalculation needed
Maria Gavrilo says that in foraging, gulls switch from multi-year sea ice to glacial ice. Franz Josef Land has many such areas where under the ice crumbs sea water mixed with fresh water, under these conditions, small marine organisms experience an osmotic shock due to the difference in salinity. Such prey is easier to catch for both fish and birds. Another thing is that these are small oases with food. And how the situation will develop further, it is necessary to observe and study. You can see how the birds try to adapt, and the white gulls live a long time, 28 years - a proven result, possibly longer.
"If I were a white gull, I would have found a place for now (on Franz Josef Land - TASS note), that is, there is a potential capacity of straits, glaciers, islands, bays for those 3 thousand pairs," - Maria says, that 3 thousand couples are her expert review. And more or less accurate data can be obtained if we repeat the bird count, similar to that carried out in the Arctic in 2006
“Now we are talking about 2019, so far it has been decided, because we need to carefully prepare, there are difficulties. The question is who will finance the Russian part.”
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