Why Bird Colonies in the Volga Delta Suffer from Fires

Колония пеликанов. Фото: пресс-служба Астраханского заповедника

The fires have caused serious damage to the bird colonies in the Volga delta. The reed massifs in its central part, where large nesting sites of birds had been previously noted, suffered the most. Now they are empty, the specialists of the Astrakhan Biosphere Nature Reserve noted during the annual aerial survey.

Perennial fires have also significantly reduced the population of tree nests. The Kirov colony had been completely destroyed; the colonies of Stvory and the Green Islands, the northern part of the Zhitninsk colony had been seriously affected, the ornithologists said.

Experts attribute a large number of fires to the drop in the level of the Caspian Sea and the shallowing of the delta front. Because of this, the islands come to the surface and remain dry longer, favorable conditions are created for the rapid spread of fire, the fire hazard period is getting longer.

The risk of fires remains even if a flood has not completely subsided. For example, at the beginning of June 2021, the island of Chernevoy Ochirkin burned in the Gandurino Canal.

"I would like to note that thanks to the efforts of state inspectors, it was possible to save bird colonies on the territory of the Astrakhan Reserve from fire," the press service of the reserve said.

During aerial surveys, birdwatchers noticed arboreal and reed colonies of great cormorants, herons and pelicans. Great and little egrets, squacco herons, glossy ibis, great and pygmy cormorants were observed. The special target of the study is the spoonbill, which can potentially nest in arboreal and reed colonies of herons in the Volga Delta. However, it was not possible to find the rare bird during the survey.

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Фото: пресс-служба Астраханского заповедника

The flight route passed from the Igolkinsky Canal on the border with Kazakhstan to the Volga-Caspian Canal. For more than half a century, the staff of the Astrakhan Nature Reserve has been conducting an aerial survey of the avian population of the Volga Delta every year. For a better understanding of natural processes, areas of Astrakhan Oblast that are not part of the specially protected area are often studied. It is almost impossible to observe hard-to-reach lands otherwise. Some colonies can only be reached by plane.

Now, the Astrakhan Reserve occupies less than 5% of the delta and delta front of the Volga.