Pre-migration club of Oystercatchers

Summer here at the White Sea, that is above the Arctic Circle, is short. Birds that did not breed, or failed, already accumulate in a so called “club” – in one of the three known areas in Kandalaksha bay of the White Sea (all within the nature reserve). On the 24th I visited one of these, where in former years the big flock reached the total of 420 Oystercatchers. I still remember from those times the fascinating memorized “video” of how they altogether fly off at high tide, and in a synchronous move with intense piping circle over the islands, gaining altitude, and then at a certain moment when they are at least 300-400 meters high – go westwards and disappear in the distance over the mountains of the Kola Peninsula. Saw it only twice in all my 25+ years with Oystercatchers at the White Sea. Obviously that is the real migration move.
Well, we will hardly see it this year, but the visit to the “club” from low to high tide, when the birds so-to-say concentrate from the enormous intertidal area to few stones emerged above the sea at fill tide is in a way “a day of big hunt”. They all show their legs, and I can sit quitely in the primitive hide and read the numbers of those colour-ringed.

The total of this year in this club was 175 birds (but it is not the only club and birds redistribute between them). Looking at the site I regretfully realise that canon-netting for ringing hardly has a chance here...

Most beloved 2008 Oystercatcher family

They just grew up in front of our eyes - mean in front of the nature reserve house on Ryashkov island where we live. In full tide both parents and two chicks were walking to-and-back-along the-coast... Piping when "kids" from hydrobiology group interfered at the intertidal zone. Finding rescue from Herring Gulls at the same time.

Now they can fly, and in spite of the fact that sex of the chicks is still unknown - they got the names (A50-orange is Senechka and 80-blue is Ilya) - same as the names of boys from the local city of Kandalaksha who help here on the island to research staff and who helped also in catching the two grown up chicks here.

Ringing still continues, and in the coming days we will also visit the islands where the largest pre-migration flock gathers as well.

Visual greetings to Rob Lambeck

The birds on these photos taken today in Luvenga settlement coast were in the Dutch hands…

It was in 1991 and 1993 that Rob Lambeck started individual colour-ringing of the breeding White Sea Oystercatchers (which I largely took over and expanded since 1997 till now) – and it was really great to find today two of “his” birds. Bluegreen rings on bird E-1 remain absolutely perfect, and the other bird shall be traced through the records still (or recaptured next year) as it lost one ring, and only has worn-off “0” plastic ring besides the usual steel that I failed to read as it stayed far even for a telescope user. I still have to trace the life stories of these two 19+ - year birds (at least 2008-1993 =15 plus 4 years age of first breeding), as the ringing data for Rob’s birds are not currently with me.

Additional great fun today was that in the same flock of non-breeders (or failed breeders) in Luvenga we saw an A16-orange Oystercatcher that I have ringed myself in July 2002 as a chick on Bolshoy Lomnishny island (over 10 km distance across the sea).

Seems that later in July, when more birds join this flock before migration, it is worth to re-visit the area for another check on colour-ringed Oystercatchers!

P.S. On the second photo E-1 bird is the most left of the four; it is not possible to read the rings on the photo, but believe me they are in perfect quality still!

Some unringed and some unread...

Counts along the coastline of all the islands reveal the areas most and least favoured by Oystercatchers; besides I do my best to check all the legs of all the birds seen, looking for “my own” individually marked birds or for those coming from elsewhere.



Luckily the birds can be seen close-up even in smaller or larger clubs here – while at the Waddensea they are really rather far away even for the telescope user. Not many “strangers” here. So far the birds with Dutch rings were only seen on Devichya Luda island (called “ostrov Golyi” on the navigation map), and last year birds with BTO metal rings were also recorded on Kibrinskaya Northern island and on Bolshoy Lomnishny island. All the rest are locally ringed.Some of the rings become really untraceable – like the bird with a white-coloured ring on the photo.



Actually all the rings made as red-with-white code by Ecotone Polish company already lost the upper red layer and are extremely hard (if at all possible) to read. I thus continue to regret that I was not using only the very endurable Canadian Protouch company colour rings in the former years... And I can only assume that the white-ring bird on the photo is the same “former red A10” (read then in the good light in 2007) seen there last year. A10 “formerly red” was ringed on 7 July 2003 on Devichya Luda island, and seen in a flock of non-breeders in 2007 on Gorely island in the same spot where an “unread former red” was observed in 2008.

Eight year bond - pair and the territory

From Ryashkov island by the boat of Kandalaksha nature reserve for more than a week starting from 28 June counts were made on all the islands of the Northern Archipelago, Kandalaksha bay of the White Sea. In between we also were checking those islands where the Oystercatchers were ringed individually in the former years. Nice findings continued.



On the photo there is a pair of blue-CR-ringed Oystercatchers No.31-blue and No.35-blue – female and male respectively, that were ringed on 25 June 2001 on Lodeiny island as one pair. That year they were caught on the nest, and had three chicks, though it was then unknown how many of them survived. In most of the following years except 2004 (and also this year), there was a fox on this island, predating all the Oystercatcher nests, including the nests of this pair. Still at high tide the birds were recorded at their territory (at least in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007). Same happens in 2008 also.



Meanwhile in 2002 the 35-blue bird was flying 2 km distance to Ryashkov western coast for feeding at low tide – when disturbed there returning to Lodeiny. It actually proves the value of the territories here at the White Sea islands – the birds continue to stay on them and to defend them even if breeding attempts are insuccessful for a number of years.

Surveys from Belomorsk towards Poyakonda along the coasts of the White Sea

Connection via GPRS continues... We are now back to the Ryashkov island of Kandalaksha state nature reserve after one week travel by sailing boat from Belomorsk via Kuzova islands and the Kem’ scherres along the White Sea North Karelian coast (and islands) – also via the Kem-Ludy cluser of Kandalaksha state nature reserve, via the Chupa settlement, via Kartesh biological station of the Saint-Petersburg Zoological Institute and the Biological station of Moscow State University close to Poyakonda settlement.
The trip turned great – thanks also to the team and to the weather – for Oystercatcher counts along the sample coastline, but also for general wider impressions on the wildlife values of the White Sea coasts. Therefore in the Russian blog I rather highlight not the Oystercatchers but the Eider Somateria mollissima males – migrating to the Onega bay for moulting; Velvet Scoter males flocks, Goldeneye males staging site in Kuzokotskaya bay, fantastic Arctic Tern colonies on smaller islands there, mix of Bearded and Ringed and a bit of Greenland Seals on the sea and exposed at the coasts.


For a change – a flock of Eider duck males instead of Oystercatchers and one picture with a map of the so far the best Oystercatcher area distant from the Kandalaksha reserve – Kuzokotskaya bay. With only one difference – Oystercatchers there are all un-ringed (and wechecked almost all that we met).