Characteristics of bird's visible migrations at the Dniester Delta in 1974-1976

The article deals with the results of observations of diurnal bird migrations and counts on a fixed route in the spring and autumn of 1974-1976, in the Dniester Delta. The total number of observation days was 82 (32 in spring and 50 in autumn, respectively). For this period, during observations and counts on the route, 135 bird species from 11 orders were registered, the total number of which exceeded 600 000 individuals. The study of migrations was carried out according to the E. Kumari method (1955). At the observation site, 80 species were counted, including 52 in spring and 60 in autumn. The Jaccard similarity coefficient (Jaccard index) was quite low between seasons and amounted to only 0.59. The frequency of occurrence of the majority of registered species was low. This may have been due to the area of the floodplains themselves, as well as to the weak extent of their anthropogenic transformation observed in the late 70s of the 20th century, which contributed to the bird migrations over the Delta in a wide front. The density of the spring migration flow was maximum in March and averaged 1077.4 ind. (n=32) per a daylight, while the autumn migration flow was 1926.2 ind. (n=50). There were interannual differences in the density of migrations in March. In the spring of 1975, the flight density was 900.3 ind. (n=15), and in 1976 it was almost twice more and amounted to 2094.7 ind. (n=11). There were no interannual differences in the intensity of autumn migrations. The maximum migration density was 2585.2 ind. (n=23) in October. The majority of non-passerine bird species flew in the morning: in spring up to 43.8%, in autumn - 64.1%. The diurnal activity of Passeriformes varied by season: in spring, morning migrations prevailed (56.1%), and in autumn, with the same ratio in the evening (56.1%). The vast majority of flocks (87 - 90%) amounted from 1 to 50 individuals. At altitudes up to 50 m, 37.0% flew, 51-150 m – 24.9% and above 150 m – 38.1% of birds. For a number of species, it was proved that the height of their flights in the general for the season migration sector of directions was higher than in the reverse directions.127 bird species were registered on all routes, of which 106 were registered on a permanent (fixed) route. Maximum species diversity was observed in March – 85, in April − 65, in September − 60, in October − 61 and in November – 40 species. The dynamics of the species composition of birds on a fixed route can be used as an additional characteristic of day transit migrations.

Nesting of the Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) on the Utlyukskiy Liman (Zaporozhye region)

In the 70s of the XXth century, the nesting of the Eurasian spoonbill in Ukraine was known only in the lower reaches of the Danube and Dniester, and at the beginning of the XXIst century, it began to spread to the East and the Eurasian spoonbill began to nest on the Tiligulskiy Liman, Karkinit Bay, Western and Eastern Sivash. Since 2016, the Eurasian spoonbill has been observed during the breeding season in the upper reaches of the Utlyukskiy Liman and the estuarine areas of the Bolshoy and Maly Utlyuk Rivers. According to observations that were held in 2016-2020, first there were: a pair with unproven nesting (2016), then flocks of up to 17-26 individuals (2018-2019). In 2020, both individual pairs with nesting behavior and flocks were found near a mixed colony of the Gray heron and the Great egret. Finally, on 24.05.2020, the Eurasian spoonbill nests were found in this colony. Among the 8 nests, one contained 2 eggs and two chicks, four nests contained 4 eggs and the other three - 3 ones. Nests are located on the periphery of the heron colony on clump of reeds. The height of the nesting platforms is about 4-70 cm above the water level, the minimum distance between the nests is about 4 m. It is possible that the flock of 26 adult and young individuals, that was observed on 2.08.2018, consisted of local nesting birds. Thus, another nesting location was found in the South of Ukraine.

Formation of nesting bird communities in parks on the gradient of anthropic load in Kiev metropolis

In settlements, safe places for birds nesting and feeding need to be created. The purpose of the work is to assess the state and identify vectors of the formation of nesting bird communities in parks under the pressure of anthropic load in the metropolis. In parks of Kyiv 62 species of birds nest. Such faunogenetic complexes like European nemoral (25.0–53.3%), Desert-mountain (12.0–27.8%) and Forest-steppe (6.9–25.0%) prevail. The number of community species in each of parks is 49–12, the average nesting density is 0.08±0.02–0.9±0.19 pairs / ha, and the dispersion is 0.12–1.62. With the combination of anthropic load on biotopes of more than 140 points with a small area of parks (2.0–16.5 ha), the species composition of communities decreases, and the average nesting density and density dispersion increase. Dominated by density: Parus major, Columba livia, Sturnus vulgaris, Turdus merula, Passer domesticus, Passer montanus, Fringilla coelebs, Columba palumbus, Apus apus, Ficedula albicollis, Erithacus rubecula, Turdus pilaris. All birds in communities are obligate synanthropes (12.9%; n=62) or hemisinanthropes. Obligate synanthropes are distributed in communities of 0-7 species. According to the gradient of increasing anthropic load on parks, logarithmic trends show a slight increase in the percentage share of obligate synanthropes in the species composition and in the number of breeding pairs. 47–70% nest on trees, 0–14.3% in shrubs, 0–13.0% on ground and in buildings. In parks, birds (16–38% of the species composition), in addition to using species-specific stations, nest in the cavities of buildings. Such species like Motacilla alba L., Sturnus vulgaris, Ficedula albicollis, Muscicapa striata Pallas, Erithacus rubecula, Parus major, Passer domesticus, Passer montanus nest in this way. Due to this nesting strategy, the need of the birds in hollows and the dependence on the woodpeckers in the community decreases. High parameters of the Shannon index (1.51–3.14) and Pielou index (0.61–0.95) were revealed, with low data of the Berger-Parker index (0.15–0.61). With an anthropic load of more than 160 points, there is a sharp decrease in species diversity, evenness of species, and increased dominance pressure. Cluster analysis showed the division of bird communities into similarity groups according to the area of the parks, the proximity of parks to the outskirts of the city and large forest tracts of the area and specifics of the anthropic load.

Settlement dynamics of the Isabelline Wheatear Oenanthe isabellina (Temm.) on the Crimean Peninsula

The expansion of Oenanthe isabellina in Ukraine began at the end of 1950s - early 1960s. The Isabelline Wheatear settled along the coast of the Sea of Azov from east to west and appeared on the Crimean Peninsula later than in the regions located to the west of it. Since the late 1960s, this species has been nesting near the mouth of the Dnipro River which located in the west of the Crimean Peninsula. The nesting of Oenanthe isabellina was found in the northern part of the Crimean Peninsula in 1973. In the mid-1980s, the Isabelline Wheatear inhabited the northwestern coast of Crimea and appeared far in the east - on the Kerch Peninsula. In the southeastern part of the peninsula the range of the Wheatear reached the Black Sea coast by the end of the 1980s, when the species nesting was found near Feodosia. In the southeastern part of Crimea, the Isabelline Wheatear continued to settle along the Black Sea coast in a westerly direction in the 1990s: its nesting was found near Sudak. In the central Crimea, the species range reached the northern foothills of the Crimean Mountains at this time. The species expansion to the south slowed down by the beginning of the 2000s. In the western Crimea, the southernmost settlement of the Isabelline Wheatear was found near Evpatoria. In the northern foothills of the Crimean Mountains (Central Crimea), the range border has not changed. There were no significant changes in the southeastern Crimea during this period - in the 2000s, O. isabellina nested near Sudak as in the 1990s. The species expansion almost stopped in Crimea in the 2010s. The settling of the Isabelline Wheatear in the steppe regions of the southwestern Crimea did not occur, possibly due to the absence of little ground squirrel settlements, whose burrows birds usually use for nesting. The border of the O. isabellina range has moved southward on about 100 km for three decades - from the beginning of the 1970s to the beginning of the 2000s -, i.e. the settlement speed of the species in Crimea was about 3 km per year.

Nesting of Moustached Warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon (Temminck, 1823) in the South-East of Ukraine

The territory of Ukraine is located between the areas of two subspecies of Moustached Warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon (Temminck, 1823) - A. m. melanopogon (Temminck, 1823) and A. m. albiventris (Kazakov, 1974). In the North-West Black Sea region, the nesting of the nominative subspecies has been proven, while the second one nests in the East Azov Sea region. By 2016, neither in the North Azov Sea region, nor in the South-East of Ukraine, this species was not observed. However, there are certain meetings of solitary birds in the adjacent regions during migrations on the Eastern Syvash on 21.10.2006 and westwards of the Don mouth on the Mius River bank on 05.09.2011. It was photographed for the first time on 24.04.2016 on the Shaitanka River near the Novodonetske village Velykonovosilkivskyi district of Donetsk region. Its nesting is reliably proven on 30.04.2020 on the Mokri Yaly River of the same region. On this river, there are plant communities with different proportions of common reed (Phragmites australis) and narrowleaf cattali (Typha angustifolia) grow in some places around open areas of the water area. It's on such sections of the river the Moustached Warbler males were observed. On a 600 m long section of the river, 3-4 males were observed. 2 males were caught, which were assigned to the subspecies of A. m. albiventris by color and measurements. On 19.05.2020 there were 5 eggs in one of the found nests. Egg sizes, mm: 18.0x13.0; 18.0x12.9; 16.9x12.9; 17.6x12.9; 17.9x12.9. The nest was located at a height of 250 mm above the water. Nest measurements, mm: D=85; d=50; H=53; h=43. It is suggested that in the South-East of Ukraine, birds appeared on nesting grounds due to the increase in the range of the subspecies in the north-west direction over the last 20 years due to climate warming. It is quite likely to find new localities of the Moustached Warblers on small rivers, large ponds or reservoirs in the southern part of Donetsk, eastern part of Zaporizhzhia or south – eastern part of Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Ontogenesis of the Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis canadensis) in North-Western Chukotka and its and other cranes reaction to the observer

Ideas about the ontogenesis of the nominative subspecies of the Sandhill Crane are limited to two student publications (Boice, 1977; Reed, 1988). Our observations were carried out on 5.06-17.08.1991 in the vicinities of the Ust’-Chaun (= Rytkuchi) Village (68°54`N, 170°43`E) at the southeastern extremity of the Chaun Bay (North-Western Chukotka, Chaun District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia) on the 7×9 km area between the southeastern shoreline of the Chaun Bay in the North-West and the Palyavaam River in the South (Winter, 2002, 2005). At an elevation of 30-50 m from the nest, an 80-cm bar with a wide ribbon and a double-sided number was set vertically. The nestlings were marked with multi-coloured fabric strips on one or on both tibiae, weighed on a lever pharmacy scale and measured with a vernier caliper.32 measurements and descriptions of 16 chicks from 10 families were carried out from hatching to their 44th day of life. During the incubation period, on June 6-27, 27 crane pairs were visited 44 times, chronometring their behaviour for 32 hours. After hatching, on June 21 – August 17, 23 pairs were visited 94 times, and their behavior was chronometred for 48.4 hours. Changes in the colour of featherless body parts during ontogenesis are described. As well as the Eurasian, White-Naped and Demoiselle Cranes, the tip of the lower mandible in the Sandhill downy chicks is split at hatching and during the first two days; by the end of the 3rd day the distal part of the left and the right mandibles coalesce together forming a smooth dorsal edge. Regressions of three indicators of beak growth are later represented by the second-order polynomials. The rudimentary claws on the wing (Phalanx digiti alulae – 1st toe) and the end of the wing (Phalanx digiti majoris – 2nd toe) remained almost unchanged for 3 weeks, and by the 44th day (24-fold increase in body weight!) they increased by 1.4-2.0 times. The growth of the metatarsus, toes and their claws is represented by the second-order polynomials. In the individual variability of the Sandhill Crane downy chicks, the unusual shape of their head is clearly visible. In 75% of the observations, it was similar to the gladiator’s head in a helmet: the short lustrous smooth down that forms a kind of slightly convex glasses around eyes, sharply contrasting with the considerably longer down on the vertex and occiput, forming a rounded crest (similar to that in the Jay, Garrulus glandarius) which begins with a ledge on the occiput. Probably, the embryonic down (praepennae) in some of the Sandhill Crane chicks grows longer than the first 2-4 days of life than in the White-Naped Crane (Ilyashenko, 2005). No areas of down contrasting in colour with the rest of the head and ‘face’ were found in the nestlings of other above-mentioned cranes. The Sandhill Crane downy chicks have contrasting grayish brown spots on the light yellow, ‘golden’ background of the lower part of the frons over the beak base (upper edge of the eye-stripe) as well as crescent-shaped spots in front and above, behind and below the eyes. Another unusual feature of the Sandhill Crane downy chicks is the presence of the egg «tooth» not only on the upper mandible (44.4%), but also on the lower mandible (55.6% of the chicks). In two chicks from one nest aged 2 and 3 days, two rows (in one chick incomplete) of light grey embryonic fluff proximally and distally on the “heel” (intertarsal joint) were found. This fluff was completely worn within a week. This sort of the apteria has not been described in the monograph on chickpterilography of the 10 bird orders of the world fauna yet (Ilyashenko, 2015). The visible on the abdomen outer part of the oval yolk sac (Saccus vitellinus), oriented by the long axis along the chick body, as well as the suture of the sphincter that closed it, are surrounded with the apterium of the yolk sac (we called it Apterium vitellinum;Winter, Gorlov, 2019), which is a diamond-shaped structure with rounded angles and is not yet known for the cranes. In the first 3 days of life, the yolk sac degraded quickly, but its size depended not only on age, judging by its size variation in three-day-old chicks. Apparently, its size depended much on the food availability in the nest surroundings. Chicks picked berries on their own from 13-14 hours old and, probably, their abundance or scarcity can be explained by such an uneven loss of the initial size of the yolk sack. This observation contradicts the “golden rule” for the Demoiselle and Eurasian Crane downy chicks, in which in the first days of chicks life, the younger one was heavier and had a larger yolk sac (Winter et al., 1999; Winter, 2008; Winter, Gorlov, 2019). During the two-hour observations of 3 crane families on the 14-18th days of the chick life, we did not record the food passing “from beak to beak”. Unlike the first week of life, the adult birds only pointed with their beaks to the food the chicks should peck. Comparison of the behavior of 5 crane species near the clutches and chicks showed that the Sandhill Crane behaved abnormally, since the distance between the observer and the adults displaying their anxiety at the nest ranged from 15 to 40 m! At the same time, there were no sexual differences in the adults behavior near the nest. The half-squat pose with half-open and roof-shaped wings, raised above the back, with the body (neck-tail) at an angle of 30-35 degrees to the ground, is very similar in the Sandhill, Hooded and Eurasian cranes, while the Demoiselle Crane had different distraction poses. Flying around the observer by adult birds at the height of 30-60 m near the nest or chicks is observed in all crane species that we know, but in the Sandhill Crane this action is obviously socialized. As the unprecedentedly high for cranes nesting density in 1991 was 0.74 nest per 1km2 and the average distance between the nests was1082.1 ± 62.6 m (Winter, 2002), the pair's anxiety near the nest had a clear social impact and probably decreased the number of the destroyed neighbours’ nests. A disturbed pair of birds, with screams in flight, followed the observer until he reached the boundary of the neighbouring nesting area. Then the neighbouring pair also left its nest and flew around the observer. If he had not followed that pair before, the search for their nest was often unsuccessful. Marking nests and nestlings has enabled estimation of the distance of the crane families from their nests in 56 observations from hatching to being capable of flight. The distance was significantly different (ß>0.95) only between the chicks from hatching to 10 day old and those of 11-20 day old. The maximum distance of the family from its nest was 1000-1100 m and was probably determined by the fact that by the time of hatching the non-breeding territorial pairs (making nests but having no clutches in them) and the pairs whose clutches died had already left their nesting sites.

Behaviour and breeding peculiarities of the Snowy Sheathbill (Chionis alba Gmelin, 1789) in the water area of the Argentine Islands archipelago and adjacent territories (Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula)

Systematic studies of the ornithofauna of the Argentine Islands archipelago by Ukrainian polar explorers began in the second half of the 90s. At the beginning of the XXI-st century, the southernmost breeding site of the Snowy Sheathbill (Chionis alba), Petermann Island, was discovered by Ukrainian ornithologists; later, nesting within the Argentine Islands archipelago was recorded. Breeding and behavioural peculiarities of the Snowy Sheathbill were studied during the XX-th (April 2015 - March 2016) and the XXIII-rd (April 2018 – March 2019) Ukrainian Antarctic expeditions, in accordance with the objectives of the State Target Scientific and Technical Research Program of Ukraine in Antarctica for 2010-2020. The distribution, abundance and detection of the Snowy Sheathbill nesting sites were investigated according to generally accepted methods, by means of surveys on permanent routes, and also by the method of point counting at Cape Marina Point on Galindez Island. During the reporting period, more than 400 hours were spent on conducting morning surveys and recording. The Snowy Sheathbill nests were examined on Galindez and Petermann Islands, the sites of probable breeding were investigated on Uruguay Island and Cape Tuxen (Antarctic Peninsula). In the spring of 2015, at Cape Marina Point on Galindez Island, breeding of one pair of the Snowy Sheathbill was recorded, and in the spring of 2018 – breeding of two pairs. In the spring of 2018, clutches on Galindez Island were registered: in the first clutch - three eggs, in the other – four ones. The average egg weight was 41.0 ± 0.8 (standard deviation – 1.9 g). Under favourable nesting conditions, the hatching of the first chicks is possible in late December. The average weight of newly hatched chicks was 33.3 ± 3.6 g. From January 19 to February 28, 2018, three chicks were weighed: the average increase in the weight of the first chick was 17.9 ± 1.3 g (standard deviation 7.6 g); the increase in the weight of the second one was 17.4 ± 1.3 g (standard deviation 7.7 g); the average increase in the weight of the third chick was smaller than in previous ones and amounted to 13.8 ± 1.5 g. The days without increase in weight were recorded: for the first chick such days were on February 19, 25, 28, for the second one only two days – on February 24 and 28; for the third chick - five days (on February 4, 13, 15, 27, 28). On the 41st day, the weight of the first chick was 680 g, the second one weighed 670 g, and the weight of the third chick was about 480 g. on the 40th day.