BIRDING (marginally) IN RUSSIA AND SIBERIA; July 1997

After our bicycle-birding trip in Germany, we took the train
from Cologne (K"oln) Germany to St. Petersburg, Russia to join a
group for a cruise of the Yenisey River. The tour group flew to
Krasnoyarsk in south-central Siberia, where we boarded the Anton
Chekov and cruised north to the mouth, or Gulf of Yenisey before
turning back to Ust Port and Dudinka. From Dudinka we took a bus
to Norilsk Airport to board a plane to Moscow and then home
again.
After learning that we could not under any circumstances
take our bicycles on the train to St. Petersburg, we made a mad
dash to Frankfurt to send them to Seattle via Lufthansa air
cargo. "The" train turned out to be one sleeper car that was
shuttled between about six different trains for two days on the
way to St. Petersburg, sometimes on the front end of the train,
sometimes in the middle, sometimes on the end. No food on the
train, no potable water, and the porter could not speak a word of
English or German, only Russian. On the way, however, we saw a
flock of seven White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) fly up from a field
and give us a spectacular sight from the slowly-moving train.
They are beautiful birds, with the coloring of White Pelicans;
white with black flight feathers, but with bright red bills, legs
and feet. Flying close to the ground with slow wing beat, they
kept their long necks and red bills extended as we ogled them out
the train window. It was a rare opportunity, as we never saw
storks again.
As the train left Cologne only Mondays and Fridays, we
arrived in St. Petersburg two days before the rest of the tour
group, and decided to make the best of the time birding, this
time without our bicycles. St. Petersburg's city birds included
Starlings, House Sparrows, Rock Doves, Hooded Crows (gray phase)
and Northern Swifts (Apus apus).
The first morning we took the 45-minute hydrofoil ride to
Peter's Palace (Petrovorets, Peterhof) on the Gulf of Finland,
and worked the palace grounds all day. As we left the boat we
were thrilled to see a new (to us) different species of gull,
small with black heads and very dark underwing. It was the Little
Gull (Larus minutus). On the other side of the pier, small terns
were swooping, hovering, and periodically diving after small
fish. Black cap with white forehead, yellow legs and a yellow
bill with black tip left little doubt that it was the Little Tern
(Sterna Albifrons), known in U.S. as the Least Tern. The voice
was also distinctive. Both these birds were new to us. We watched
them quite a while before moving on. We also saw Common Terns
(Sterna hirundo), Black-headed Gulls (Larus ridibundus), Herring
Gulls (Larus Argentatus) and one Great Black-backed Gull (Larus
Marinus). Ducks along the shoreline included one pair of Tufted
Ducks (Aythya fuligula) and several Mallards.
Walking through the forested park, we heard more birds than
we saw, but were able to identify quite a few. These included:

Barn Swallow, Eurasian race (Hirundo rustica)
Northern House Martin (Delichon urbica)
Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla Flava)
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)
Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)
Great Tit (Parus major)
Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus)
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)
Hooded Crow, gray phase (Corvus corne cornix)
Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)

It was great to become reacquainted with the Brambling. We had
seen flocks of them in Finland on our bicycle-birding tour of
Scandinavia in 1991.
On the second day we planned to get to Pushkin, but the attempt
to find the right ticket kiosk at the Vitebski Station failed, so
we visited the park and zoo across the Neva from the Hermitage
Museum instead. The zoo was rather run-down, but had a fantastic
collection of birds and waterfowl. Two days later the tour group
visited Pushkin Palace and Catherine's Palace on a dead run, and
there was no time for birding.
Flying from St. Petersburg to Krasnoyarsk Airport in perfect
weather was uneventful, as was the bus ride to the Yenisey River
where we boarded the Anton Chekov. The afternoon was free, so we
birded parks along the river, and the few birds we saw included:

White Wagtail (Moticilla alba)
Sand Martin (Bank Swallow) (Riparia riparia)
Northern House Martin (Delichon urbica)
House Sparrow
Starling
Magpie (Pica pica)
Eurasian Crow (Hooded Crow, black race) (Corvus cornix)

The group took a bus ride up the river to the massive
hydroelectric dam, where we saw a new swift, the Pacific Swift
(Apus pacificus), at the northwestern edge of its range. Pacific
Swifts occur across southern Siberia, east to the Kamchatka
Peninsula. They are gray with white rumps, and their voices are
not as piercing as the Northern Swift. Black Kites (Milvus
migrans) soared over the cliffs, and an Imperial Eagle (Aquila
heliaca) waited on a log for fish, damaged by the turbines, to
drift by. The eagle was identified by the staff ornithologist,
but unfortunately we did not bring the scope that day, and it was
at the limit of our binoculars for positive identification.
As we cruised north on the river, we saw several beautiful
Golden Eagles (Aquila saetos), and Black Kites were almost
ubiquitous. Other than that, the birding was rather frustrating,
as the boat made about 20 knots, and the few birds we did see
were flying swiftly by at a distance, difficult with the
binoculars, impossible to use the scope. Those that we managed
briefly to identify (not study) were:

Pacific Loon (Gavia pacifica)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Shoveller (Anas clypeata)
Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra)
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
Mew Gull (Common Gull) (Larus canus)
Little Gull (Larus minutus(
Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons)

The boat anchored one evening, to delay navigating rapids
until morning. Before the morning fog lifted, we set up our
telescope and had a rare chance to do some real birding from the
deck:
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Sand Martin (Bank Swallow) (Riparia riparia)
White Wagtail
Black Kite
Hooded Crow (black race).

We stopped to visit several of the little Siberian villages
along the river, and saw a few different birds, including the
Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe).
A mad dash through the Taiga, escorted by rifle-wielding
crew members (rumors of Russian grizzlies) proved interesting for
the flora, but other than the plethora of mosquitoes, there were
only a few bird songs, no sightings. Another stop allowed us to
go on another mad dash through a more northern forest (mostly
birch). Heard a few birds but no time to stop to look for birds..
Of course it would have been difficult as we were busy flailing
at mosquitoes. Finally we had a leisurely sloshy slog through the
real tundra at Ust Port, but it was very disappointing. The only
nesting shorebird we saw was a pair of Wood Sandpipers (Tringa
glareola), who flew around scolding us, as we were too near the
nest. We actually found the chick. Earlier that day, the staff on
a scouting hike saw and heard winnowing Common Snipe (Gallinago
gallinago). We saw a Great Ringed Plover (Chadrius hiaticula)
down on the beach plus one other shorebird that flew off before
we could get a look at him. In the town we saw Fieldfare, Yellow
Wagtail, White Wagtail, and Herring Gulls. Even the staff
ornithologist could not explain the dearth of birds. There were
plenty of mosquitoes for food. Perhaps our expectations for
seeing birds in the arctic were too great, but we were
disappointed in the birding part of our Yenisey cruise. Perhaps
also, with the collapse of the lumbering economy in Siberia, the
people were destitute and had decimated the bird population for
food.
Guess we should stick to bicycle birding instead of cruise
birding. We saw many more arctic birds on our bicycle trip
through Scandinavia in 1991. The Norwegian Varanger Fjord north
of Finland was terrific for arctic birding. Perhaps we got
spoiled.


Bill and Erin Woods Woods Tree Farm Redmond, WA U.S.A.
<wwwbike at halcyon.com>