Updates from the Field

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Week 2
Field Work in the Tundra
Masha Vladimirtseva, Junior Scientist
Institute for Biological Problems of the Permafrost Zone, Yakutsk

Click here to view a map of YakutiaI have a story about an exciting trip to the tundra this June, to see Siberian cranes incubating their two eggs in their nests. We found several pairs on their nesting territories. The male and female crane take turns sitting on the nest every 1-2 hours. I was lucky to conduct observations of one Siberian Crane nesting pair from a distance of just 1 km (.62 miles). The female was young, she may have paired and nested her first summer after returning to the tundra. Her neck and stain on her breast were reddish (Siberian cranes preen mud into their feathers on their neck and chest during the breeding season). It was wonderful, as the older male made on his breast the same stain with mud. The stain was of the same size and on the same place as the female's marking. Maybe he was saying that he belonged to her. When the older and experienced male was sitting on the nest, the young female flew far from the nest. Sometimes the male had to call to her, when his session was close to an end.

Both birds liked to catch fish. The water from the lakes rose onto the shores as a result of high yearly water levels. And fish, large enough for the cranes, came onto these flooded plains. The male was a better “fisherman” than the female. After catching a fish, the crane would eat it in about ten minutes. He beats the fish with his beak and tears off smaller pieces. Neither crane ever fed the other when they were sitting on the nest (they each caught their own food).

It is not easy to reach Siberian Cranes on their nesting territories. We had some adventures during our route to see and count nesting cranes. First, we used a swamp-mobile, a vehicle with large, soft wheels that would not damage the tundra. But after we had traveled 32 km from Chockurdakh, the settlement from where we started, our vehicle broke down. So, we had to return by foot. It is very hard to walk through the tundra, as it is plentiful with tussocks and wetlands. Sometimes you have to walk through water up to your knees for hundreds of meters. We use special waders for going through the tundra. We had to cross a large lake which was still covered with ice (in June!). It was dangerous because the ice could have cracked while we were walking on it, but to go around the lake would have increased the distance we had to walk by several kilometers.

The male Siberian Crane flew near the researchers when they came too close to the nest Flooded plain where Masha observed the Siberian Cranes feed on fish and other foods
After stopping for the night, the swamp mobile's engine froze and they were unable to restart it The researchers returned to the village on foot, walking over a frozen lake to shorten the distance