Water bodies of former peat pits as the most important nesting sites for some species of Laridae in the center of European Russia

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the role of artificial water bodies in the former peat pits as habitats for gulls and terns based on long-term monitoring data in the Nizhny Novgorod oblast (area 76.624 km2), located in the center of European Russia. 3 regional censuses of Laridae were carried out in 1985-87, 1997, and 2006-2007. The monitoring of the largest colony of gulls in the region at the IBA Sitnikovski RU-185 was carried out in 1982, 1987, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2006, 2011 and 2023. It is shown that very large colonies of many species of Laridae, representing complexes of closely located colonies, have formed on the peat pits in the Nizhny Novgorod oblast. Peat pits are the most important nesting sites for Larus ridibundus, L. canus and L. argentatus in the central part of European Russia. In the Nizhny Novgorod oblast, more than 50% of the regional population of these species nests in these habitats. Monitoring only the Sitnikovski colony allows us to judge the trends in the numbers of most species of Laridae in the Nizhny Novgorod oblast at large. Based on extrapolation of population data at Sitniki peat pits we can calculate the approximate numbers of regional breeding populations of Larus minutus, L. ridibundus, L. canus and L. argentatus.