Large Raptor Records in Novosibirsk Region, Russia
Authors:   Novosibirsk Branch of the Russian Bird Conservation Union, Shtol D.A. , Kashinskaya Yu.O. ,   Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS
Published: October 2023

All of the region's raptors are listed in the Red Book of the Novosibirsk Region and are rare and protected, and thus their sightings by bird watchers are of interest to the professional community of ornithologists. We have summarized our sightings in of the White-Tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) and Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) in Novosibirsk Region in recent years, and we present them below. Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) was sighted 04/11/2019 near Elbashi in Iskitimsky District and 9/01/2022 above garden cottages, 3 km southeast of Novosibirsk-Akademgorodok. Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis) was sighted in the Karasuk District on 30/04/2017 near the Krotovo Lake and in Toguchinsky District (2 km north of the village of Gorny) on 25/07/2021. Greater Spotted Eagle (Aquila [Clanga] clanga): In Zdvinsky District, observations occurred 07–10/05/2021, 18–21/06/2021, 29/08–04/09/2021, 10–13/05/2022, 10–15/08/2022, 05–08/09/2022, 10–13/05/2023, and 27/08–01/09/2023. Over these time intervals, Greater Spotted Eagles were sighted in every instance excepfor May 2021 and May 2022. On a 7-km long section, bounded by the Zolotye Rossypi watercourse and the adjacent swampy area on one side and by Chulymenok River near Chanovsky Research Station (Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), 7–12 Greater Spotted Eagle sightings occurred on 28–30/08/2023 and 01/09/2023. In May 2023, the maximum number of Greater Spotted Eagle was recorded along the road between Chulym and Shirokaya Kurya – four birds per 8 km. On 31/08/2023, a light morph (fulvescens) Greater Spotted Eagle was encountered near the scientific station. On 03/09/2021, a Greater Spotted Eagle killed by a power line was found near the Chulym–Shirokaya Kurya road. On 29/05/2023, a Greater Spotted Eagle was sighted sitting on the traverse support of a bird-hazardous power line near a currentcarrying wire near Zdvinsk-Chulym Road. In the Karasuk District, a Greater Spotted Eagle has been repeatedly observed near Krotovo Lake, Astrodym Lake, and Bolshaya Zamaranka between May and September in different years (observations have been conducted sporadically since the autumn 2014 at the Karasuk Research Station of the Institute of Economics and Life Sciences of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The earliest sightings occurred on 02/05/2021 and 02/05/2022, and the latest occurred on 25/09/2014. In summer it was recorded on 27/06/2021 and 02/07/2021. On 24/09/2014, a light morph (fulvescens) Greater Spotted Eagle was recorded (Karyakin et al., 2014) near Lake Krotovo. Greater Spotted Eagle have been observed near Rasskazovo (09/04/2018), near lakes Kundraki (12/09/2020), Titovo (22/08/2021), Kruglenkoye (26/08/2021), Stelkyannoye (27/08/2021), Karasuk (near Novokarasuk village, 07/09/2021), and Studenoye (04/09/2022). A Greater Spotted Eagle was sighted in Bagan District near Matveychikovo Lake (08/21/2021), near the uninhabited village of Chulakovo (28/08/2021), and near Osinniki 18/08/2022. On 01/09/2021, three sightings were documented in Barabinsky District: near Ust-Tandovka, near Kozhevnikovo and near Lake Domashneye. A Greater Spotted Eagle was sighted in Iskitimsky District on 07/19/2020 near Dubinsky. A Greater Spotted Eagle was encountered in Novosibirsk Oblast on 03/04/2020 above Klyuchi-1 Non-commercial Gardening Partnership. A Greater Spotted Eagle was seen in Novosibirsk-Akademgorodok and the Central Siberian Botanical Garden on 09/04/2011, 22/09/2012, and 14/04/2013. Based on our observations in Novosibirsk Oblast, the Greater Spotted Eagle is the most common eagle species. The White-Tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) has been observed nesting since 2008 on a spit between the Ob River and a lock channel at Novosibirskaya HPP (Andreenkov et al., 2009). Eagle sightings occur yearround above Novosibirsk-Akademgorodok, Central Siberian Botanical Garden, across Novosibirsk Region south and southeast of Akademgorodok, over the Ob River below the HPP on the outskirts of Novosibirsk and in Iskitimsky District. A sighting occurred on 27/02/2021 near Shipunovo in Suzunsky District, 97 km from the HPP reservoir, presumably the nearest unfrozen water (the bird fed on the remains of the animal). In addition, a White-Tailed Eagle was encountered near Verkh-Koen (28 km from the Ob Reservoir) on 18/10/2020 and on 11/03/2023 near Mikhailovka in Iskitimsky District (40 km from the HPP). In the Zdvinsky District, there is a White-Tailed Eagle nest in a forest belt within a rook colony near Chanovsky Hospital. According to hospital employees, it has existed for over 30 years, but in August 2022 the nesting tree fell. On 08/05/2021, a disturbance of a pair of eagles near the nest was noted. On 19/06/2021, a nestling was sighted in the nest and one young female flew nearby. On 11/05/2022, unsettled adult birds were also observed near the nest. Also, according to hospital staff, there was another nest in its vicinity that fell in summer of 2023. They also reported a new nest, which appeared in the vicinity of the hospital in May 2023 (both of the latter were in hard-to-reach forest stands). Another nest was found near Zdvinsk-Chulym Road with sightings of an adult bird departing the nest on 10/05/2021, 13/05/2022, and 11/05/2023; an inspection on 21/06/2021 did not spot the eagle. During counts on 28–30 August 2023 and 01/09/2023, up to four White-Tailed Eagles were noted on 19/09/2016 at the site described earlier near Chanovsky Research Station. In Karasuksky District two White-Tailed Eagles were observed on 19/09/2016 near Krotovo Lake, and one bird was noted on 20/08/2021 near Zhuravlinka Wetland (near Rasskazovo). An occupied nest was observed in Yuzhny Nature Refuge on 08/05/2023 (discovered 09/08/2010 by A. Bazdyrev, pers. comm.). On the same day, the eagle was encountered near Zimnoye Lake (possibly from the same pair). On 15/08/2023, a White-Tailed Eagle was sighted near Karasuk Lake. In Bagansky District, an eagle was encountered on 31/08/2022 near the uninhabited village of Chulakovo. In the Ordynsky District, a White-Tailed Eagle was sighted on 29/04/2017 near Vagaitsevo and on 17/07/2021 near Novy Sharap. An Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) has only been sighted on its fall migration: above the Koen River not far from Morozovo on 22/09/2019 and twice 1.5 hours apart on 17/09/2022, 3 km from Burmistrovo over the Miltyush River.