The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Ramsar site management plans -- Russian Federation, Karaginsky Island (file 3)

"KARAGINSKY ISLAND" RAMSAR SITE
(file 3 of 6)

Postbreeding period. To the end of breeding the density of bird (without nonbreeding birds) population in Betula ermanii forests of the wetland is 345 ind./sq. km; in tundra- 425; in Siberian dwarf-pine elfin woods- 527; in floodplain- to 1,590 ind./sq. km (Table 6).

 Table 6: The number of waterfowl passing through the "Karaginsky island" Ramsar site

The total number of nesting birds and their offspring reaches 1,800,000 individuals. At this time the most numerous species are Black-legged Kittiwake (288,000), Dusky Thrush (185,000), Yellow Wagtail (130.000), Red-throated Pipit (108,000), and Common Murre and Thick-billed Murre (132,000 individuals) Table 6.

The total abundance of passerines to the end of the breeding season is about 800,000 or ~ 58% of the total number of birds (without nonbreeding), including 315,000 gulls and 140,000 auks (Table 5).

WATERFOWL MIGRATING THROUGH THE WETLAND

The wetland "Karaginsky Island" is on the Central Kamchatka migration way of waterfowl, waders, sea colonial, and other birds. Rich coastal marine water of the island provides birds with food during migration, moulting, and wintering.

Along the eastern Kamchatka coast an intense migration of geese and sea colonial birds is observed. Hundreds of oldsquaws, white-winged and black scoters, and three eider species pass through this wetland. Masses of auks, blacklegged kittiwakes and pelagic cormorants migrate to nesting grounds. Diving ducks and seabirds fly low over water and nearby the seashore. Bird flocks straighten their way to the north in order not to round Shipunsky, Kronotsky, Kamchatsky, and Ozernyi capes of the eastern Kamchatka coast.

Karaginsky Island is located on the way of migratory birds to the north of Ozernyi peninsula. The Central Kamchatka migration way of geese passes from the western coast of this peninsula to the northeast Kamchatka coast. Here, from the Malamvayam lagoon to the Ukinskaya inlet most of ducks and geese continue their way over the northeastern tundra. Other birds fly towards Karaginsky Island.

Diving ducks predominate among migratory birds. The number of them coming to Karaginsky Island for rest and feeding changes from year to year and is related to the ice regime and seasonal weather conditions. In the spring of 1976-1978 in coastal waters and lagoons of Karaginsky Island about 150,000-200,000 diving ducks had rest and feeding. River ducks are less numerous. In the spring of 1976 their number was 28,000-30,000 birds. The major area for bird rest and feeding is Yuznyi peninsula and valleys of the Malamvayam and Markelovskaya rivers (Gerasimov, 1979). The total number of migratory birds is 700,000 (waterfowl and water-related) in spring and about 900,000 birds in autumn (Table 6, 7).

The coastal water of Karaginsky Island is an area for moulting of Harlequin Duck, Common Eider, White-winged Scoter, and Common Merganser (Gerasimov, 1972; 1979).

In the moulting period, small groups of harlequin ducks occur in the 50-m belt of the stony eastern coast on the island and in river mouths. Common eiders moult in various sites of the coastal water independently of the coastline pattern. Three moulting grounds of white-winged scoters are known: at the southern termination of the island, opposite the Gnunvayam mouth and in the Severnaya Bay.

Common Merganser starts moulting in lagoons and offshore. In the beginning of the moulting period mergansers occur regularly along the western island coast; in late July they move outward the shore and are dispersed throughout 1-km coastal area.

Steller’s eider appears on the island in late June and is abundant in early July. In summer, the bird prefers the eastern stony coast and does not visit sandy terrain. The 200-m coastal area is a place of their residence (Gerasimov, 1979).

The total number of waterfowl and water-related birds that moult at the wetland territory exceeds 40,000 birds (Table 8).

Thousands of oldsquaws winter on Karaginsky Island. They move from one coastal areas of the island to other ones depending on the wind direction. The total number of wintering oldsquaws ranges depending on the ice regime and sometimes reaches 10,000 birds.

The annual total number of breeding, moulting, migratory and wintering birds using the Ramsar wetland "Karaginsky Island" is not more than 2 million birds including >630,000 gulls; 420,000 ducks, and > 260,000 auks (Table 9).

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ramsar@ramsar.org). Posted on this Web site, 24 September 2001, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.