41. Expansion of Ross’s gull nesting range in the north of Yakutia in the 20th century

Abstract

The nesting sites of Ross’s gull – the North’s legendary bird, first discovered on the northern shores of Canada in 1823 and frequently encountered by Polar researchers in different areas of the Arctic Ocean from the Canadian shores and East-Siberian and Chukchi Seas, were first discovered in 1905 by S.A. Buturlin in the Kolyma River lower stream. Subsequent researchers identified the nesting range of this beautiful bird from the Yana River delta to the Lower Kolyma and Alazeya Rivers (Vorobyov, 1963). In the 1970–1980s the range of the species expanded further to the west. Ross’s gull nesting in the Lena River delta was registered in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1990 and 1994. Local inhabitants noticed Ross’s gull even farther westward on the Olenyok River and its tributary Bur River (Labutin et al., 1985). Pavlov and Dorogov (1976) write about the Ross’s gull propagation in Taimyr, in the Big Balakhnya River estuary. In early June 1994 we visited Sagystyr Island located in the Big Tumatskaya Channel estuary on the northernmost tip of the Lena River delta, where we found three solitary nests of Ross’s gull. The first two nests were made on a tussock among small lakes. They were made as cavities on the tussocks’ tops where soft moss was mixed with thinly laid dry grass and dwarf willow leaves. The third nest was arranged on the dry place near a geodesic tower and could be easily seen because of a white gull sitting in a neighboring nest and well outlined against the brownish tundra. When the bird left the nest, the nest seemed to disappear as it melted into the surroundings becoming absolutely unnoticeable. Each nest contained three well set eggs and the birds were sitting tightly. They flew up from the nest when a human came within 6–8 m, but they did not fly away and actively attacked the stranger. Ross’s gulls winter in the areas of the Arctic Ocean, the Okhotsk and Bering Seas of the Pacific Ocean. In the last decades the Ross’s gull population has grown considerably in number. However, it still needs human protection. It is necessary to conduct permanent monitoring of the population of this amazing endemic of the North and take all necessary protective measures.