Berkut. Vol. 5. Is. 2. 1996. P. 141-146.
DOTTEREL IN BULGARIA AND ROUTES OF ITS MIGRATION IN EURASIA
D.N. Nankinov
Хрустан в Болгарии и пути его миграции в Евразии.
- Д.Н. Нанкинов. - Беркут. 5 (2). 1996. - Хрустан регулярно посещает территорию
Болгарии, находящуюся между гнездовым и зимовочным ареалом, однако о его
статусе в стране до недавнего времени было известно совсем немного. Через
Болгарию проходят два миграционных пути хрустана. В западной ее части сроки
миграции более растянуты (28.08–30.10), отдельные группы остаются зимовать.
Количество особей в стаях не превышает 6. На западном побережье Черного моря
стаи достигают 25 особей, но сроки пролета намного короче (24.09–21.10).
Преобладающая часть хрустанов (84,62 %) пересекают территорию страны осенью,
останавливаясь на пастбищах, заброшенных полях, степных участках и редко — у
водоемов. Пролетные пути на территории Болгарии выражены слабее, чем в степях
Украины, в Крыму, Азиатской Турции, на зимовках в Египте и вокруг Персидского
залива. Показаны предполагаемые пути хрустана в Евразии. Допускается, что
часть популяции весной и осенью использует разные пути пролета, некоторые
сибирские особи достигают африканских зимовок, летя через Северную Европу, а
возвращаются к гнездовьям через Аравийский полуостров и Среднюю Азию.
Key
words: Dotterel, Bulgaria, migration, phenology, flyway.
1. Introduction
Dotterel
(Charadrius morinellus) has the
parted breeding range in the zone of tundra of Eurasia, from Scotland to Bering
strait (also can be found in North Alaska). There are isolated nestings in Europe
(Holland, Austria, Italy, Romania, etc.), Ural and south Siberian mountains
too. Its population in Europe numbers 36 500 couples, while 28 000 couples
breed only in Norway. Dotterel winters in Mediterranean (Kozlova, 1961; Robbins
et al., 1966; Hable, 1973; Cramp, Simmons, 1983; Piersma, 1986; Sackl, 1993).
The territory of Bulgaria is situated between the breeding and wintering ranges
of the species. Dotterel visits Bulgaria during migrations. These facts are
little known and in the most recent monographs on birds of Western Palearctic
there is no information about the presence of the Dotterel in the Bulgarian
avifauna. Short notes about its meetings in Bulgaria can be found in some
publications of the last decades (Robel, Kцnigstedt, 1979; Nankinov, 1982,
1989).
2. Materials and methods
For establishing the status of the Dotterel we have
worked all the information about its meetings in Bulgaria: literature data,
museum collections, our last field studies and also publications about migrations
of the species in Europe. Dates from the old (Julian) calendar (before
31.03.1916) were up dated to the new (Gregorian) one. The observations of
several birds were mentioned in two publications (Reiser, 1894; Buresh, Arndt,
1926). For being easy we accepted that about 5 birds were watched.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Territorial distribution. Stop-over sites
Since
1889 to 1992 the Dotterel has been recorded 21 times in Bulgaria (Fig. 1). The
chronology of these meetings is as following:
1889
— 17 (30).10, in environs of Sofia, several individuals (Reiser, 1894).
1890 — 25.09 (8.10), town of Sofia, 2
adult birds (Collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia);
—
7(20).10, 2 birds were shot in environs of Sofia (Reiser, 1894);
—
? a bird was collected in environs of Plovdiv (Reiser, 1894).
1891 — 26.09 (9.10), village of
Trebich (Sofia), 6 birds were shot, among of them 1 adult male and 2 immature
(Reiser, 1894).
1892 — 14(27).09, 2 birds were shot
in environs of Sofia (Reiser, 1894).
1904
— 7(20).04, town of Sofia, an adult female was shot (Collection of the National
Museum of Natural History in Sofia);
—
? Bulgaria, 2 adult birds were collected (Collection of the National Museum of Natural
History in Sofia);
—
December, environs of Sofia, several individuals (Buresh, Arndt, 1926).
1905
— April, environs of Sofia, several individuals (Buresh, Arndt, 1926).
1932
— 28.08, village of Svoboda (Panagurishte), a bird was shot (Collection of the
National Museum of Natural History in Sofia);
—
probably after then a bird is kept in the Museum in Panagurishte (Christov,
1982).
1933
— 14.10, environs of Sofia, a bird was shot (Collection of the National Museum
of Natural History in Sofia).
1958 — 21.10, the place “Poda” near
Burgas, flock of 6 birds (Prostov, 1964).
1965 — 14.10, between the villages
Dolni Bogrov and Chepincy (Sofia), 4 birds (Simeonov, Sofroniev, 1968).
1966 — 3.10, between the villages
Dolni Bogrov and Chepincy (Sofia), 5 birds (Simeonov, Sofroniev, 1968).
1976 — 24.09, cape Caliacra, group of
25 birds (Robel, Kцnigstedt, 1979).
1985–1988 — Vracha mountain, 1
observation (Profirov, 1988).
1986 — 20.10, cape Caliacra, 2 birds (Brehme, 1991).
— 25.10,
near the breeding-pool of Chelopechene (Sofia), 2+2 individuals.
1992
— 14.06, Atanasovsko lake, Burgas, 1 bird.
It could be seen that the records of
the Dotterel are located in the west part of Bulgaria (mostly in the plain of
Sofia) and along the Black Sea coast. In the plain of Sofia it stops most
frequently on pastures. They were vast because of well developed sheep- and
cattle-breeding. There were pastures just next to outskirts of the city and
some of birds were collected there. During the last decades dotterels have been
observed on unspoiled, uncultivated grounds around reservoirs in the plain of
Sofia, near the river Iskar between Dolni Bogrov and Chepincy and near the
breeding-pool of Chelopechene. The Dotterel is recorded on pastures and
uncultivated fields in environs of Plovdiv and Panagurishte. The only one
mountainous meeting is in the not so high Vracha mountain (1482 m). About
meetings in Dobrudja (north-east Bulgaria) already in the end of the past
century A. Alleon (1886) wrote that the Dotterel “meets on slightly raised
plateau without coming close to marshlands”. The later observations are in the
stony steppes of cape Caliacra, in the marshland “Poda” near Burgas and in the
dried up basin of Atanasovsko lake.
3.2. Migrations. Moult. Wintering
Most (84,62 %) of dotterels recorded
in Bulgaria migrate in autumn, between 28.08 and 30.10. The main passage goes
during September and October (Fig. 2). It is well known (Maumary, Diflon, 1989)
that adult females migrate at the end of August and at the beginning of
September. Adult males and immature birds pass later. The spring migration
goes during April. It unifies 7,69 % of migrants. Probably the Dotterel,
watched on the Atanasovsko lake on 14.06.1992, can be accepted as a late spring
migrant or as a wandering breeding individual. In spite of this, the presence
of an isolated breeding, situated near Bulgarian mountains, can not be
excluded. Such assumptions were made at the beginning of the century by H. von
Boetticher (1927). At the same latitude Dotterel broods in the French
Pyrenees, in the mountain Abruchy in Italy, in Caucasus and also in
neighbouring Romania. In June 1956 it is recorded to the south from Bulgaria in
Greece. There are summer meetings in Turkey (Pens, 1957; Di Carbo, Heinze,
1975; Glutz von Blotzheim et al., 1975; Belik, Danchenko, 1977; Carlino et
al., 1984; Beaman, 1986). It was found out (Dennis, 1974) that the number of
the species rises and its breeding range expands in connection with the climate
changes in some parts of Europe.
Fig.
2. Seasonal occurence of Dotterel in Bulgaria.
Рис.
2. Сезонная встречаемость хрустана в Болгарии.
J.
Sterbertz (1966) determinates three migration routes of the Dotterel in Europe:
1) along the coast of Denmark, Holland and Belgium;
2) across the Hungarian lowlands to the Adriatic sea;
3) from Ukraine along the seashore of Romania and
Bulgaria.
According to the received information
we can say that two well distinguished migration routes of the Dotterel pass
through the territory of Bulgaria: through West Bulgaria and along the Black
Sea coast (Fig. 1, 4). The migration through West Bulgaria is more widely
spread (28.08–30.10), although sometimes separate groups of birds stay to winter
there. The spring migration is in April. Passing flocks are not big and do not
exceed 6 birds. This West Bulgarian migration route of the Dotterel can be a
periphery of the flyway, which J. Sterbertz (1966) has determinated as
Adriatic (2), but it could be also a separate route from Scandinavian
peninsula to the coast of Libya.
The migration of the Dotterel along
the Black Sea coast continues for a short time (24.09–21.10). The number of
birds in flocks reaches 25 individuals. In the past century A. Alleon (1886)
wrote: “It comes in small flocks in spring and leaves in the same way”. A part
of the migrants on this route probably winters along the shores of the
European part of Turkey, where an adult male is in the collection of the
National Museum of Natural History in Sofia (December 1892) from.
The migration of the Dotterel along
the west Black Sea coast is less revealed than in north-east. In Ukraine the
intensive passage goes over the Crimea. In spring it lasts from 18.03 to 20.05
(sometimes birds are observed also in June), in autumn — from the end of August
to 23.11 (Kostin, 1983). According to this author dotterels fly on wide front,
passing the Crimean mountains over their highest parts. In steppes along the
seashore they form congregations of hundreds of birds. The migration in steppes
is most animated to the east from the Dnieper mouth, in Askania-Nova and in
North Priazovie (Kozlova, 1961).
It seems that the flyway from Ukraine
to the seashore of Romania and Bulgaria, described by J. Sterbertz (1966), have
to be separated into two independent routes. The first one is less revealed
along the west Black Sea coast, which dotterels most probably leads away to
North Egypt. The second one pass over north Black Sea and peninsula of Crimea.
North coast of the Black Sea, the Crimea and the North Priazovie are the
places, where during the winter numerous flocks of dotterels concentrate,
before they get over the Black Sea at its most narrow part, in their way to
Asiatic Turkey and further to wintering places in Sinai peninsula and Persian
Gulf. These our suppositions are confirmed by the big concentrations (October,
November and April) of dotterels in Asiatic Turkey. For example on the lake Tuz
558 birds were recorded on 21.11. 1970; 22–23.11.1971 — 369; 3.10.1973 — 455;
2–3.04.1981 — 800 + 200. There were more than 300 individuals in the steppes of
Hortu on 5.04.1971. Flocks of hundreds’ dotterels migrate across the other
parts of the Central Plateau of Asiatic Turkey (The OST Bird Report, 1975;
Beaman, 1986). On its wintering places in Saudi Arabia the species stays from
the middle of November to the end of February (Palfery, 1986).
According to E. Kozlova (1961), the
spring migration from east Mediterranean begins at the end of February and the
beginning of March. The animated passage proceeds in the middle of April in the
Syrian desert, near Damask. Dotterels pass through South Crimea and the steppes
of north Black Sea coast from the end of March to the end of April. In
Askania-Nova (Kherson region of Ukraine) they come earlier - from the end of
February, fly during March and April, some flocks (maybe composed from immature
individuals) leave till May and even June (Scharleman, 1924).
Fig. 3. Recoveries of dotterels ringed in
Europe
Рис.
3. Возвраты хрустанов, окольцованных в Европе
The ringed birds, found until present (Glutz von
Blotzheim u. a., 1975; Cramp, Simmons, 1983; Maumary, Diflon, 1989;
Pulliainen, Saari, 1993; Clark et al., 1996), show that the Scottish dotterels
winter in Morocco (21 ringed birds have been found) and Algeria (Fig. 3);
individuals hatched in Norway were found in Holland and Algeria; from Sweden —
in Belgium; from Finland — in South Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, along the Adriatic
coast of Dalmatia, in Crimea and on the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea;
from Austria — in South France and Libya. Birds, caught and ringed in
Switzerland, nest on Scandinavian peninsula. It is known that the birds from
the Scottish population were found in Spain, France, Denmark and Norway (2 birds).
An immature individual from Finnish Lapland was found in Jakutia (Siberia — to
a distance of 3979 km). A bird, ringed in Ireland in September, bred near a
town in Jakutia, 5600 km to the east. Birds, ringed in Jakutia, were found in
Tunisia (4050 km to the south-west). Dotterels from the East Siberian
population get over a distance of 12 000 km during the migration from Chucotka
to Africa (Tugarinov, 1931).
According to these results, we can
assume that through the territory of Bulgaria the dotterels migrate, that
hatched in Finland, in the south part of European Russia, in Romania and
probably birds from the Siberian population. At the beginning of August
dotterels form migrating flocks in their breeding places in Finland (Pullianen,
1970). They pass through Bulgaria after 28.08.
Probably the migration of dotterels
is accomplished by stages. Birds fly away from their breeding territories, fly
for a long period of time, alight on different places, where they enrich their
energetic supplies, and again fly a long time and so on. They keep close to
favourable for finding food and for nesting habitats (steppes, pastures and so
on) and because the destination of their migratory roads is not connected with
river valleys and lakes (Dolgushin, 1962).
The supposed roads of migration, received on the basis of
published results of ringing and from the known places of concentrations of
birds, are shown on the Figure 4. The migratory routes of the European and
Siberian populations of dotterels, in some of their parts, coincide and
intercept during spring and autumn, when birds migrate to their wintering
places and just the opposite.
Except the already mentioned
concentrations of dotterels in steppes of Ukraine, in the Crimea, on the North
Black Sea coast and in Asiatic Turkey, there are numerous concentrations of
migrating flocks on the upper current of the river Yenisei near the Krasnoyarsk
city (Tugarinov, Buturlin, 1911) and in North Kazakhstan.
The considerable migration proceeds
in Precaspian lowlands, along the north-east coast of the Caspian Sea,
between the rivers Ural, Emba and Urgiz, where during April and May flocks of
50–100 birds are recorded. There are flocks up to 300 individuals in north-east
Kazakhstan, on pastures near the town of Pavlodar (Dolgushin, 1962). Although
the Dotterel was found in Kazakhstan in spring, as well as during the autumn
migration (according to E. Kozlova (1961) around the river of Tobol and the
town of Orenburg), numerous concentrations are recorded in spring. This urges
us to suppose that in autumn the main part of the Siberian population fly to
its wintering places through North Europe. In winter they accomplish an
additional migration along the North African coast to east to the Persian Gulf.
In this way they accomplish a semicircle. In spring they fly straight to
north-east, across Kazakhstan towards their breeding places. It is possible the
migration of some individuals have an opposite destination.
Our suppositions that some dotterels do
not use one and same road during their spring and autumn migrations, are
confirmed by the fact that in different parts of Eurasia they are more numerous
in autumn or just in opposite - in spring. For example in Chehia and Slovakia
99 % of dotterels migrate in autumn, from August to November, mostly in
September (Hudec, Cerny a spol., 1977). According to J. Sterbertz (1966),
dotterels are found during August in Holland, Germany and Hungary, during
September — through whole Central Europe and during November — in South Europe.
There are records in Hungary in spring — 180 individuals and in autumn — fifth
as much, i. e. 917 birds (Sterbertz, 1971). In Belgium and Holland the
correlation between the numbers of recorded dotterels in spring (April-May) and
autumn (August-November) is 22:89 (Lippens, Wille, 1972). At the same time,
during the autumn migration dotterels are rare in Denmark, and in May, during
the spring migration there are about 10 places of concentrations. Up to 300
birds gather in some of the places (Ostergaard, 1982). Therefore dotterels
from Scandinavian peninsula fly in autumn straight towards Holland, Belgium
and to the south, where are their wintering places. In spring some of places
of the concentration are situated in Denmark.
This bird is very rare in the central
part of European Russia (Ptushenko, Inozemtsev, 1968), which shows that
dotterel rounds about this huge territory and accidentally only separate birds
pass it.
We can talk about existing equal
presentation of spring and autumn migrations only in Ukraine and Asiatic
Turkey, although the concentrations in Turkey are more numerous during the
autumn.
The information about the moult of
the Dotterel in Bulgaria is very poor. Along the Black Sea coast A. Alleon
(1886) had no observations of the breeding plumage in spring, in autumn he has
watched birds with the breeding plumage mixed with winter feathers. One male
of the two shot birds on 26.09 (9.10).1891 near Sofia was nearly moulted (from
summer in winter plumage). Two dotterels, watched on 25.10.1986 near
Chelopechene, were moulting. The adult bird, watched on 14.06. 1992 on Atanasovsko
lake, was in the transitional plumage.
Places, situated around the North and
East Mediterranean, also and Bulgaria, must be included to the wintering areas
of the Dotterel together with the North African coast, Persian Gulf and Spain
(Cramp, Simmons, 1983). Some dotterels were watched near Sofia in December
1904 (Buresh, Arndt, 1926). Also in December birds were recorded in Hungary,
on the peninsula of Kerch (Sterbertz, 1966, 1971), in Switzerland (Maumary,
Duflon, 1989) and in January in Azerbaijan (Kozlova, 1961). J. Gregori and J.
Krecic (1979) wrote about wintering in Sicily, Sardinia, South Italy, South
Greece, Crete and Cyprus. The Dotterel is a rare winter guest in the whole
country of Greece and Turkey (Bauer et al., 1969; Beaman, 1986).
In Bulgaria the Dotterel is under the
protection of the law, but its protection is formal, because hunters do not
distinguish it from other game bird and shot it. Some of its stop-over sites
(cape Caliacra, place “Poda” near Burgas, Atanasovsko lake) are protected
areas.
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Acknowledgements
This work have been supported by the
grant B-522 from the National Science Fund, Ministry of Education, Science
and Technologies.
Dimitar N. Nankinov
Institut of Zoology
Boul. Tsar Osvoboditel 1
1000 Sofia
Bulgaria
