Important changes in the breeding range of wild geese (Anser sp. and Branta sp.) in the North of European Russia

摘要

This paper is a short review of Russian literature relating to important changes in the distribution of wild geese, a little known phenomenon in Western European ornithological publications. The increase in the number of gas- and oil plants in this remote area during the past years go hand in hand with more research being done there, not in the least because these exploitations may affect the rich natural ecosystems belonging to the tundras along the Barents Sea. Greylag goose Anser anser still breeds in the Russian Arctic. At least several hundreds of pairs of Taiga Bean Goose A. f. fabalis still breed in the taiga belt between the White Sea and the Ural Mountains. A small part of the West European wintering population of the Pink-footed Goose A. brachyrhynchus takes a more eastern migration route than what is generally known. The latter species has been observed fairly regularly in Hungary and in the North of Continental Russia. It breeds on the southern Island of Novaya Zemlya, where young birds were found in 1993 and 1997. Alsot here hundreds, even up to a thousand individuals have been recorded during the summer. The first breeding cases of Snow Goose A. caerulescens, Dark-bellied Brent Goose B. b. berniclo and Red-breasted Goose B. ruficollis, have been recorded in the North of European Russia. The breeding range of the latter in the Asian Arctic of Russia has expanded in all directions and because its numbers have increased significantly; new breeding records can be expected on European soil. A striking expansion has been noted of the breedin range of Barnacle Goose B. leucopsis in a western direction and in 2004, the European Russian population was evaluated at 400,000 individuals. Small colonies of the Pale-bellied Brent Goose B. b. hroto have been found in the archipelago of Zemlya Frantsa-losifa, where in 1980 and 1981 the population was estimated at 1000 birds. The probable causes of these expansions are briefly discussed. Parts of the new findings come from more frequent investigations. General increases of the populations caused by a better conservation in the wintering quarters may have led to increases in populations, which in turn have played a key role in some of these expansions. Global warming does not seem to play an important role in these expansions.