Our Beautiful World

Chukotka   

Part 4 Coastal Spits II

Animals, birds and flowers on this page:

BIRDS
ANIMALS
FLOWERS
Sandpipers, Calidris...
they've run away
Marsh marigold, Caltha palustris arctica
Spoon-billed sandpiper,
Calidris pygmaeus
perhaps on next page
Northern pintail, Anas acuta
Long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis


From a rearranged translation of Vladimir Dinets original pages to norwegian, with supplements.


Klikk på flagg for norsk versjon


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Tidal flats, Russkaya Koshka Spit, Chukotka, Russia.

Of all bird species inhabiting sand spits of Chukotka, sandpipers are the most diverse group. Sixteen species nest here, and at least seven more show up during migration.

The sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders or shorebirds. They include many species called sandpipers,
as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked
out of the mud or soil. Different lengths of bills enable different species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the
coast, without direct competition for food.


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Sandsnipe, Calidris pusilla, Belyaka Neset.

Small sandpipers are also the only Arctic birds that can be really difficult to identify.


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Dunlins, Calidris alpina, Russkaya Koshka Spit.

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Rock sandpiper (C. ptilocnemis), Belyaka Spit.


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Nests of red-necked stint, Calidris ruficollis,, Belyaka Spit.


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Dunlin nest, Belyaka Spit.

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Red-necked phalarope, Phalaropus lobatus nest.

Small sandpipers almost always lay four eggs. They lose a lot of clutches and chicks to bad weather and predators (from lemmings and gulls to bears and reindeer, but especially to skuas and Arctic foxes). Their chicks look so delicate and vulnerable, it's hard to imagine how any of them manage to survive in the cold, windy, merciless world of coastal spits


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Temmink's stint, Calidris temminckii, chicks, Ioanna River spit.

Various sandpiper species differ in their behavior at nest. Temmink's stint are particularly tame, so their nests and chicks are relatively easy to find.


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Temmink's stint chick, Ioanna River spit.

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Dunlin nest with chicks, Belyaka Spit



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Reeve, Philomachus pugnax, Kazachka River delta

Spoon-billed sandpiper nests only on coastal spits. It's the rarest bird of the Arctic: the population has dropped from 2000 to 200 in six years due to loss of stopover sites in Korea and poaching in Myanmar


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Spoon-billed sandpiper, Calidris pygmaeus, chick,
Belyaka Spit.

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Spoon-billed sandpiper chick, Belyaka Spit.



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Spoon-billed sandpipers , Calidris pygmaeus, (nest in the middle), Belyaka Spit.

Spoon-billed sandpipers nest along the outer side of the spits, and feed on numerous small tundra lakes.
They apparently use their weird bills to get tiny invertebrates from the mud


flower

Marsh marigold, Caltha palustris arctica, is a common lake plant of coastal spits. Belyaka Spit.

bird

Northern pintail, Anas acuta, is common
on tundra lakes all over
Chukotka. Belyaka Spit


Northern pintail, Anas acuta


Northern pintail, Anas acuta
© http://www.ecosystema.ru/

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Long-tailed ducks, Clangula hyemalis, Russkaya Koshka Spit.


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Long-tailed ducks and a red-necked phalarope,
Russkaya Koshka Spit.

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Long-tailed ducks, Belyaka Spit.

These shallow lakes have cold clear water, little or no fish, but lots of birds.


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This small gravel spit not far from Anadyr Airport is one of the best birdwatching sites on Chukotka


butterfly
Fritillary, Boloria freja,
Belyaka Spit.
You might even see butterflies and dragonflies on coastal spits.

dragonfly
Azure hawker, Aeshna caerulea, Sbornaya Spit.


They are uncommon, and mostly show up during warm summers

butterfly
Fritillary, Belyaka Spit


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Aerial views of lake tundras covering Belyaka Spit, Chukotka

Spits along the northern coast of Chukotka are sometimes surrounded by sea ice until July.



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Sea ice off Belyaka Spit.

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Sea ice off Belyaka Spit.


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Even more Sea ice off Belyaka Spit..

There is special beauty to those strips of young, fragile land - barren and desolate at first sight,
full of gentle life and subtle complexity at closer look



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Belyaka Spit.

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Belyaka Spit.


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Tidal flats, Russkaya Koshka Spit, Chukotka, Russia.

Part 5. Lowland-tundra

Back to Part 3

All pictures, unless otherwise stated, Copyright © Vladimir Dinets



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ANIMALS

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