To the study of the nesting cycle of yellow wagtail within the Steppe Research Station “Orenburg Tarpania”

Abstract

Peculiarities of the nesting cycle of Motacilla flava beema Sykes, 1832 (Passeriformes, Motacillidae) within Steppe Research Station “Orenburg Tarpania” are considered in conditions of protected, fallow and pasturable lands in Orenburg region. The role of mutually-useful relations between yellow wagtails and ungulate mammals in steppe communities is underlined. According to preliminary results, we can suppose that the state of the population of model species of yellow wagtail depends on the presence and density of ungulate mammals in the nesting plot. The development of new habitats by M. f. beema is connected with the movement to the south-west of principal vegetation communities and food items of several species of yellow wagtails that, in its turn, are conditioned by climate aridization in the steppe and forest-steppe within Russia and adjacent countries.