Ornithology in the wild east: successful project meeting

Amur Bird Project annual meeting, 07.12.2019 Münster/Germany, © Anna Korshunova

For the 3^rd time our annual Amur Bird Project (the 7^th since 2013) meeting took place at the Institute of Landscape Ecology in Münster/Germany. Again, the presentations were very well attended – around 70 participants came from Germany, Russia, Hungary, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Many thanks again to all speakers, helpers and participants!

Zum dritten Mal fand das Jahrestreffen des Amur Bird Projects (das 7. Seit 2013) am Institut für Landschaftsökologie der Universität Münster statt. Wieder waren die Vorträge sehr gut besucht – um die 70 Teilnehmende kamen aus Deutschland, Russland, Ungarn, der Schweiz und den Niederlanden. Nochmals vielen Dank an alle Vortragenden, HelferInnen und BesucherInnen!

// Wieland

Lásló Bozó on the migration of Siberian warblers © Arend Heim

Ekaterina Demidova presenting new results on the ecology of thrushes in Central Siberia © Arend Heim

Marc Bastardot uncovers conservation gaps in East Asia © Arend Heim

Ilka Beermann has collected data on habitat use of the Yellow-breasted Bunting © Arend Heim

after the presentations: a tribute to DJ Dubrovnik © Steve Klasan

ABP Meeting 2019

ABP 2019 - Part VI: Vetluga

Yellow-breasted Bunting fledgeling © Marc Bastardot

After a short break in the Polar Ural, Marc and Yulia, a Russian volunteer, met with ornithologist Alexey Levashkin in the Nijni Novogorod Oblast. There we put the last three geolocators of the year on males of the Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola, colour-ringed two other individuals, and did some habitat mapping. And this in less than 3 days! 

Despite the fact that males were nearly not singing, we could easily catch them, thanks to the perfect weather conditions (rainy day and foggy morning). The territories were really easy to find as the chicks were already hatched and the adults were immediately warning as soon as we approached the nesting area. We could also find the first fledgling of the year! 

In these abandoned fields close to the Vetluga river, the density of the critically endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting was really high. It was hard to make 200m without hearing some adults warning. Incredible to see such big and healthy population (at least 20 to 30 pairs) only 400 km from Moscow. 

The other species present in this place were similar to the species that can be found in north-east Germany (River Warbler Locustella fluviatilis, Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis, Garden Warbler Sylvia borin, Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus, Oriole Oriolus oriolus, Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus, Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus). In addition to these European species, some eastern ones such as Booted Warbler Iduna caligata, Blyth's Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum, Great Snipe Gallinago media and a Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica (which is a rare breeding bird in this area) were observed. 

We would like to thank Alexey for the invitation to this great place and for his help and all the logistics. We also like to thank Olga and Alexey who joined us for a day for their help in the field! Спасибо большое!

// Marc 

Team Vetluga: Marc, Yulia and Alexey © Marc Bastardot

Tagging a Yellow-breasted Bunting with a geolocator © Yulia Sechina

On the way to the buntings © Olga levashova

A net full of tits © Marc Bastardot

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker © Yulia Sechina

Long-tailed Tit © Yulia Sechina

Siberian Grass Snake Natrix natrix scutata © Alexey Levashkin

Russian roads... © Yulia Sechina

ABP 2019 - Part V: Ural mountains

Siberian Rubythroat with geolocator © Wieland Heim

My last stop on this year´s expedition through Russia were the Ural mountains. Our goal was again to search for returning birds with geolocators, and to start a project on the migration of the White´s Thrush Zoothera aurea. This species is the largest songbird migrating along the East Asian flyway, heavy enough to carry a satellite transmitter - which would allow real-time tracking.

The team met in Ekaterinburg – Leo came from Lake Baikal, Vera from the Far East, Andy from Germany and Anna from Moscow. On the next day Kasper Thorup, head of the bird migration lab at the University of Copenhagen, arrived, and together we travelled north towards the Urals. By using various buses and cars it took us around 12 hours to reach our camp site at the foot of the Kvarkush plateau. Here heavy rainfalls greeted us. The next seven nights we spend running up and down the mountains, working all night from 20 to 10 to search for the thrushes as well as for Siberian Rubythroats Calliope calliope and Bluethroats Luscinia svecica. Unfortunately, we did not relocate any returned Bluethroat, but we were able to retrieved one geolocator of a Siberian Rubythroat – out of only three birds tagged in 2018! We found much more birds compared to the year before, and tagged most of them with new data loggers. Less easy was the work with the White´s Thrushes: to catch them, we had to pinpoint their exact location – and since their song is incredibly far carrying, we had to follow them through the forest for up to 1km. And during the shortest night of the year, they stopped singing completely. Nevertheless, we caught two individuals, from which we will hopefully learn about their unknown migration route.

The Kvarkush plateau is a beautiful place to work, and thanks to the cold and rainy weather we had very few mosquitoes. Among the rarer birds we had Great Snipe Gallinago media, Oriental Cuckoo Cuculus optatus, Black-throated Thrush Turdus atrogularis and Yellow-browed Warblers Phylloscopus inornatus – for many of this species, the Ural is the westernmost border of their distribution. Quite unexpected was the observation of a displaying Pin-tailed Snipe Gallinago stenura, south-west of its known range.

I want to thank the team for their hard work, Johannes Kamp for supporting the project, and Ural Expeditions & Tours for taking care of all documents and transport.

Die letzte Station auf meiner Forschungsreise in diesem Jahr war das Uralgebirge. Auch hier war unser Ziel, beloggerte Vögel aus dem Vorjahr zu finden. Außerdem wollten wir mit einem Projekt zum Zug der Erddrossel beginnen. Die Erddrossel ist der größte Singvogel, welcher von Russland nach Südostasien zieht, und die einzige dieser Arten, welche schwer genug ist, um einen Satellitensender zu tragen.  Mit Hilfe dieser Technik könnten wir das Zugverhalten in Echtzeit verfolgen!

Das Team traf sich in Ekaterinburg – Leo kam vom Baikal, Vera vom Amur, Andy aus Deutschland und Anna aus Moskau. Am nächsten Tag traf dann auch Kasper Throup ein, Leiter der Vogelzugforschungsgruppe der Universität Kopenhagen. Gemeinsam brachen wir nach Norden zum Ural auf. Mit Hilfe verschiedener Busse und Autos gelangten wir nach 12 Stunden an den Fuß des Kvarkush-Plateaus, wo wir von heftigen Regenfällen empfangen wurden. Die nächsten sieben Nächte rannten wir die Berge hoch und runter, von 20 bis 10 Uhr immer auf der Suche nach Rubinkehlchen, Blaukehlchen und natürlich den Drosseln. Leider konnten wir keins der Blaukehlchen aus dem letzten Jahr finden. Umso erfreulicher war jedoch, dass eines der nur drei im Vorjahr markierten Rubinkehlchen zurückgekommen war, und seinen Datenlogger wieder mitgebracht hatte! Insgesamt fanden wir deutlich mehr Individuen als im vorigen Jahr, und die meisten von ihnen konnten mit einem neuen Geolokator ausgestattet werden. Die Arbeit mit den Erddrosseln hingegen gestaltete sich schwieriger: um sie zu fangen, mussten wir die exakte Singwarte der Vögel bestimmen – und da der Gesang sehr weit zu hören und schwer zu orten ist, mussten wir bis zu einem Kilometer querfeldein durch den Wald kriechen, um die Drosseln zu finden. Während der kürzesten Nächte des Jahres verstummten die Erddrosseln dann komplett. Nichtsdestotrotz gelang es uns, zwei Individuen zu fangen, welche uns hoffentlich Einblicke in die bisher unbekannten Zugwege dieser scheuen Art ermöglichen werden.

Das Kvarkush-Plateau ist ein wunderschöner Arbeitsplatz, und dank des kühlen und regnerischen Wetters waren nur wenige Mücken aktiv. Wir freuten uns über Doppelschnepfen, Hopfkuckucke, Schwarzkehldrosseln und Gelbbrauen-Laubsänger – die meisten dieser Arten kommen hier im Ural an ihre westliche Verbreitungsgrenze. Unerwartet war die mehrmalige Beobachtung einer balzenden Spießbekassine, welche normalerweise weiter nord-östlich vorkommt.

Ich möchte mich bei meinem Team für deren harte Arbeit bedanken, bei Johannes Kamp für die Unterstützung des Projektes und bei Ural Expeditions & Tours für die Organisation der Genehmigungen und Logistik.

// Wieland

Crossing the border: from Asia to Europe © Anna Korshunova

Special roads need special cars © Wieland Heim

Our camp in the forest © Andreas Siegmund

Vera in our kitchen © Wieland Heim

Anna preparing for another wet night © Wieland Heim

Can anyone hear a White´s Thrush? © Andreas Siegmund

Finally: White´s Thrush songpost found © Wieland Heim

Kasper with one of the thrushes © Andreas Siegmund
 

Sunrise over the Ural ridge © Wieland Heim

Leo looking for Bluethroats on a misty morning © Wieland Heim

Andy waiting for the Bluethroat to fly into our net © Wieland Heim

Fitting a geolocator to a Bluethroat © Andreas Siegmund

Male Bluethroat with geolocator © Andreas Siegmund

Black-throated Thrush, female © Andreas Siegmund

Little Bunting © Andreas Siegmund

Olive-backed Pipit in display flight © Andreas Siegmund

Viviparous Lizard, the northernmost occuring reptile species © Wieland Heim

Another Rubythroat gets ringed - hope it will come back next year! © Andreas Siegmund

On our way back to Serov © Anna Korshunova

Total captures, 19.-26.06.2019: 33 birds out of 9 species

Blaukehlchen	Bluethroat	Варакушка	Luscinia svecica	17
Rubinkehlchen	Siberian Rubythroat	Соловей-красношейка	Calliope calliope	6
Rohrammer	Reed Bunting	Камышовая овсянка	Emberiza schoeniclus	2
Fitis	Willow Warbler	Пеночка-весничка	Phylloscopus trochilus	2
Erddrossel	White´s Thrush	Пестрый дрозд	Zoothera aurea	2
Zwergammer	Little Bunting	Овсянка-крошка	Emberiza pusilla	1
Singdrossel	Song Thrush	Певчий дрозд	Turdus philomelos	1
Heckenbraunelle	Dunnock	Лесная завирушка	Prunella modularis	1
Rotdrossel	Redwing	Белобровик	Turdus iliacus	1