The mystery of the relic seagull. Relic gull - a recently discovered and rare bird species Migrations of relict gulls

The relict gull belongs to the order Charadriiformes, the gull family. The relic gull was known to specialists for a long time only from the type specimen caught in 1929 in the western Gobi in the eastern part of Mongolia.

View discovery history

The relict gull received its specific name from the Swedish zoologist Lonnberg in 1931. Until 1971, the bird was considered a subspecies of the black-headed gull, but in 2005, after a revision of gull taxa, the International Ornithological Committee renamed the genus Ichthyaetus. On the Torey lakes in Transbaikalia in 1965, a colony of relic gulls was rediscovered, about a hundred nesting pairs.

In 1968, nesting settlements were observed on Lake Alakol in Kazakhstan in the amount of 120. A rare species of gulls was essentially rediscovered in 1969 by the Kazakh ornithologist E. M. Auezov on Lake Alakol. Prior to this, the only specimen of this bird from Central Asia was considered a subspecies of the species of gulls known to scientists.

External signs of a relic gull

The size of the body of the relic gull reaches 44-45 cm. The head and most of the neck are painted black, between the beak and eyes the color of the feather cover is light brown. Above and below the red-brown eyes is a white spot. The back is covered with light gray feathers, the tail is white.

The wings are light gray with black edging along the edge of the flight feathers. The lower body and tail are white.

In winter plumage, the bird's head is white. In this case, these gulls are very easy to confuse with closely related species.

The legs and beak are dark red. Young gulls have white feathers on their heads with brown spots. The beginning of the beak is dark brown, the base under the beak is lighter and, as the birds mature, turns into an orange-red color. The legs are dark grey, the ring around the eyes is black. Male and female almost do not differ from each other in appearance.

Distribution of the relic gull

The relic gull is found in Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, China. Breeds on Lake Barun-Torey in Trans-Baikal Territory, on Lake Taatzin-Tsagan-Nur in the Valley of Lakes in Mongolia, lakes Balkhash and Alakol in Kazakhstan, on Falshivy Island in Primorsky Territory, on Ordos Plateau in Inner Mongolia in China.

Migrations of relic gulls

Wintering areas of relict gulls are poorly studied. Perhaps they winter in Southeast Asia, southern Japan, the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, in the interior of China.

Listen to the voice of the relic seagull

Relic gull habitat

The relict gull nests in humid and warm climates. A rare bird is found on islets among salt lakes located in the steppe and desert zones. On migration it lives along river valleys and inland water bodies, in winter it lives on sea coasts. The breeding colonies of the relict gull are found in dry steppes, among sand dunes, on salt lakes with unstable water levels. The relict gull nests in humid and warm climates.

Breeding relic gulls

Relic gulls breed at the age of 2-3 years. In some years they do not nest at all. Information about life expectancy is not known. Once a season, the female lays 1-4 eggs in early - mid-May.

Birds settle in very dense colonies, in which there are up to several hundred nests, sometimes only a few pairs build nests nearby.

Nesting sites change from year to year, even if they are located within the same area. The nests of relic gulls are unpretentious.

The egg shell is painted in an unusual color for seagulls - whitish-olive with a clay tint and covered with dark and light spots.

Chicks appear after 24-26 days. They are covered with soft white fluff.

Nutrition of the relic gull

During the breeding season, relic gulls find food along the banks of reservoirs and in shallow water, as well as in the steppe, in the fields. The main food is insects, seeds of cultivated cereals, as well as aquatic invertebrates, fish and even small rodents. In Mongolia, relic gulls sometimes prey on Brandt's voles.

The number of relic gulls

The relict gull is classified as vulnerable by Bird Life International. The global population of mature birds ranges from 2,500 to 10,000 individuals, with a total population of 12,000.

The number of nests of relict gulls changes very sharply over the years, up to the disappearance of colonies in their habitats during unfavorable seasons. In this case, the birds either move to other water bodies, or do not nest at all. In Russia, the number of the species has increased over the past twenty years and by the beginning of the 90s was 1200 breeding pairs. Changes in the water level of steppe lakes have a significant effect on fluctuations in population.

Reasons for the decrease in the number of relict gulls

One of the main reasons for the decrease in the number of relict gulls should be considered a decrease in the water content of lakes in the nesting area of ​​the species and unfavorable climatic conditions during the nesting season.

Cold and rainy weather leads to high mortality of chicks and a reduction in the number of broods, and stormy winds often destroy the colony when water washes away the nests.

Relic gulls have been noted to eat eggs of their own species, especially when the disturbance factor increases during the period of incubation and hatching.

Eggs and chicks are destroyed, in some years almost entirely by herring gulls. One of the main colonies of relic gulls in China, Taolimiao-Alashan Nur, is endangered due to the introduction of tourism projects.

Conservation status of the relict gull

The relic gull is endangered. The rare species belongs to category 1.

Protection of relic seagulls

The relict gull is listed in Appendix 1 of CITES, Red List of IUCN-96, Appendix 1 of the Bonn Convention, Appendix of the agreement concluded between Russia and the Republic of Korea on the protection of migratory birds. A rare species of gulls is protected in the Daursky Reserve.

In the nesting areas of the species, it is necessary to minimize the factor of disturbance in the colonies, even on the part of employees of environmental organizations, it is necessary, if possible, to use remote observation methods during the breeding period. When new nesting sites of relict gulls are discovered, they should be taken under temporary protection.

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Larus relictus (Lonnberg, 1931)

Relic Gull | Moinak nemese alakoz

Description

In adult (over three years old) relict gulls in spring and summer, the back and wing coverts are bluish-gray. Neck, tail, rump and entire underparts are white. The head is black with a light coffee coating around the beak; on the forehead, cheeks and throat, this coating gradually darkens and gradually turns into a pure black color of the crown, occiput, ears and lower throat. Above the eye and below it - one wide (6-7 mm) bright white stripe, which close behind the eye, forming an incomplete ring, contrasting against the dark background of the head. The primaries are white with a black pattern. In individuals with the least development of this pattern, the black color is retained only on the outer webs of the first three primaries and in the form of wide preapical stripes through both webs of the second - fifth primaries. In some (probably younger ones) black color also occupies a significant part of the inner web of the first two primaries. The beak is dark red. The tarsus, fingers and membranes are meat-red, the claws are black. The iris is dark brown, the edges of the eyelids are bright red. Juveniles in nest plumage have white neck feathers with wide preapical brown stripes; the feathers of the back and upper wing coverts are gray-gray, with wide brown preapical fields and wide whitish endings. The forehead, cheeks and throat are white; crown and occiput with indistinct dark pattern. The rump, flanks and entire underparts are white. The tail is white, with a wide preapical black-brown stripe. The first and second flight feathers are entirely black, the rest have white fields gradually increasing in the proximal direction on the inner webs; all flight feathers with white tear-shaped tops, which wear out much faster than the black parts of the feather. The beak is dark brown, lighter at the base of the mandible, the legs are dark gray. The iris is dark brown, the edges of the eyelids are black. After the first autumn molt, the head and neck are white, with occasional dark brown drop-shaped spots. Back and wing coverts as adults, only lesser coverts with broad brown tips. Tail with a dark preapical stripe. The legs are light gray, the beak is light at the base and dark at the top. Dimensions. Males (5): wing 338 - 352, tail 134 - 150, beak 35 - 35 mm. Females (6) wing 322 -345, tail 126 - 143, tarsus 52.5 - 59, beak 33 - 35 mm. Weight: 420 - 575 g.

Spreading

The relic gull breeds on the islands of Lake Alakol, in the eastern part of Balkhash and on the lakes of the Pavlodar Irtysh region. Observed on migration at Zhalanashkol Lake and in the corridor of Dzungarian Gates. From birds ringed on Lake Alakol, one return was received from North Vietnam, three from China and two unusual - one ring was sent from Bulgaria, where the gull was encountered on March 25, 1978, the second from Turkey on March 30, 1990, which suggests the wintering of this species in the Black and Mediterranean Seas.

Biology

The relict gull is a rare nesting migratory bird. Inhabits large salt lakes with islets, both permanent and temporary. Appears in late March - April in small groups in spring. Breeds in dense colonies, sometimes more than a thousand pairs, often together with black-headed gulls, gull-billed terns and terns. The nest is built on sandy islands with weak vegetation and is a shallow hole lined with dry grass, which is added during incubation. Nests are located at a small distance from each other. Clutch of 1-4 eggs occurs in May. The eggs are light olive-clay in color with dark brown or dark olive and rich light gray spots. Both parents incubate the clutch (the female at night and early morning, the male during the day) for 24-26 days and then feed the chicks, which hatch in June and begin to fly at the age of 40-45 days, in July. Autumn departure begins in early August, most birds leave nesting sites in September. And already at the end of September, one ringed bird was noted at the wintering grounds in Vietnam.

Sources of information

"Birds of Kazakhstan" volume 5. "Science". Alma-Ata, 1974.
E.I. Gavrilov. "Fauna and distribution of birds in Kazakhstan". Almaty, 1999.
Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005.

RELICT SEAGULL

Larus relictus

Spreading: In Russia, nests only on the lake. Barun-Torey, Chita region Outside of Russia, nesting settlements are known in Kazakhstan on Lake. Alakol and Balkhash, in Mongolia on the lake. Taatzin-Tsagan-Nur in the Valley of Lakes, in China on the Ordos Plateau.

Habitat:Breeds on islands of salty lakes with unstable water level in steppe and desert zones; during migration stays along river valleys and inland waters, in winter along sea coasts. It starts breeding at the age of 2-3 years; life expectancy is not known. Clutch 1-4, usually 3 eggs, breeding once a season. Settles in very dense colonies numbering from several pairs to several hundred nests. The locations of the colonies change from year to year, even if they remain within the same island. During the breeding season, it feeds in the steppe, in the fields and on the banks of water bodies, in the splash zone and in shallow water. The main food objects are mass species of insects, grains of cultivated cereals, less often aquatic invertebrates, fish, and small rodents. It has been noted to eat eggs of its own species. The proportion of unfertilized eggs in the colony is 2-4.4%, 0.3-2.0 young per pair of birds rise to the wing. In some years, the colonies die entirely, washed away by storms; eggs and chicks die (completely in some years) from predation by herring gulls, infanticide (aggression of adults towards chicks) and cannibalism, especially when the disturbance factor increases. The combination of exceptionally high nesting densities with a tendency to cannibalism makes the species extremely sensitive to disturbance during the brooding and hatching season. The main wintering grounds are not known; apparently, this is the Southeast. Asia, possibly also east. coast of the Korean Peninsula, south. part of Japan and the hinterland of China.

Number:The species is characterized by sharp fluctuations in the number of nesting settlements over the years, up to the disappearance of colonies in unfavorable seasons. At the same time, birds either move to other water bodies, or do not nest at all. IN 1967 . on the lake Barun-Torey nested at least 100 pairs, in the 70s. - 81-612 pairs, in the 80s - 280-1025 pairs, and in 1983 ., with the complete drying of the lake, the gulls did not nest. IN 1990 . 1200 pairs nested 1991 - 1100 pairs, in 1992 - 1000, in 1993 - 800, in 1994 . - 200 pairs (the colony was completely devastated by herring gulls); decline in numbers in the 90s. It was against the backdrop of rising water levels in the lake. The number of species in Russia, despite sharp fluctuations, has increased over 20 years, reaching by the beginning of the 90s. 1200 breeding pairs. Its current decline does not inspire serious concern and is apparently associated with a natural cycle that depends on fluctuations in the water level of the steppe lakes. On the lake Alakol in Kazakhstan in the 70s. the number of relict gulls varied from 35 to 1200 pairs, in 1986 and 1987 nested, respectively, 11 and 22 pairs. On the Ordos Plateau 1991 . 1115 pairs nested. The world population of the species is estimated at 12 thousand individuals. Of the natural limiting factors, the main ones include watering of lakes in the nesting area of ​​the species, weather conditions during the breeding season: cold, rainy seasons are unfavorable for breeding, and storm winds often destroy the entire colony, washing away the nests or causing in the colony (especially, already excited by visiting people), a turmoil that triggers a chain reaction of destruction of clutches and puffs by herring gulls and the relict gulls themselves. In the absence of disturbance, the predation pressure of herring gulls is not catastrophic. Of the anthropogenic factors, the disturbance factor during the breeding season is the most important.

The relict gull - Larus relictus - nests in Russia only on the Barun-Torey lake in the Chita region. Prefers islands of salty lakes with unstable water level; during migration stays along river valleys, in winter along sea coasts. Starts nesting at the age of 2-3 years. Clutch 3 eggs, breeding once a season. Settles in dense colonies of up to several hundred nests. The locations of the colonies change every year. It feeds on insects, grains of cultivated cereals, less often on aquatic invertebrates, fish, and small rodents. Eating eggs of their own species and cruel treatment of chicks by parents, leading to the death of part of the offspring, have been noted. No more than two chicks from the clutch rise to the wing.

most likely, it is a relic of the Tertiary period, when there was a huge Tethys epicontinental sea. This sea has long disappeared, and the birds that once inhabited its coasts and islands "inherited" bizarre and torn habitats.

For the first time, a relic gull was caught in the spring of 1929 on the river. Edzin-Gol in the South Gobi. The only skin of this bird lay in the collection for 40 years, causing bewilderment of experts - either a hybrid or a morph. Only in 1968-1969, when Kazakh ornithologists on the lake. Alakol discovered a whole colony of 25-30 pairs of the same gulls, it became clear that this is a special kind of gull, and besides, it is rare, if not disappearing. Subsequently, stuffed relic gulls were found in collections collected in the area of ​​the Torey lakes in the southeast of the Chita region. Thus, the second nesting site of this species was discovered, located almost 2.5 thousand km from Kazakhstan. Alakol is a large and deep-sea salt lake with permanent islands, and the Torey lakes are represented by a system of shallow, periodically drying up lakes in a saline basin. However, relic gulls living so far apart and in relatively different habitats are practically indistinguishable from each other.

The relic gull in breeding plumage is characterized by darkening from the beak to the neck (from light coffee to black) color of the head, wide white half-rings near the eyes and dark ends of the wings. These gulls nest in dense colonies, nesting about 40 cm apart. Often birds settle near or even in the center of a colony of greaves or gull-billed terns. In May, relic gulls lay 1-4 eggs, which both birds of the pair incubate for 24-26 days. Downy chicks are pure white in color and stay on land in herds for about three weeks. Parents feed the chicks with belching mainly from various insects. Colony on the lake Birds leave Alakol early, already in August. The places of their wintering have not yet been established, but one of the ringed gulls on September 30 was killed on a lake in Prov. Quang Ninh in northern Vietnam. During the migration period, relic gulls were encountered in Eastern Mongolia. In the west of Mongolia, a young bird was observed on August 14, 1974 on the floods of a spring in the foothills of the Gobi Altai, and on July 15, 1979, a pair of adult gulls was noted near a lake in the Munkh-Khairkhan mountains.

Long-term observations of E. M. Auezov on the lake. Alakol showed significant fluctuations in the number of nesting pairs - from 20-40 (1968-1969, 1971 and 1974) to 800-1200 (1976-1977); in 1973 there were no relic gulls here. There is no doubt that in some years nesting birds are redistributed, most likely to lakes in the northwestern part of China, or, as E. M. Auezov suggests, to the islands of Lake. Balkhash.

Nesting places of relict gulls on the lake. Since 1971, Alakol has been declared a state reserve, colonies are also protected on the Torey lakes. This species is included in Appendix 1 of CITES, and its extraction in the USSR is completely prohibited.