Lake Svetloe in Altai has become incredibly popular in recent years – after all, more than 1200 whooper swans winter there. People already started to call it the Swan lake. On the Internet, information roams from site to site that in Russia there are only two reserves where whooper swans winter: in the Anadyr region of Chukotka and in the Sovietsky region of the Altai Territory. Is this true? Let’s find it out.

Whooper swans are migratory birds. They nest on the northern borders of the forests of Eurasia from Scandinavia and Scotland to Chukotka and Sakhalin. And they usually winter in regions with positive temperatures, because these birds need open water. For wintering, swans fly to Western Europe, to the north of the Mediterranean, the coast of the Caspian Sea, to Central, South and Southeast Asia, sometimes overcoming considerable distances. Whooper swans of Western Europe are more fortunate – they have to fly not so far. So, swans nesting in Iceland winter in Ireland, Finnish whooper swans fly to Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.

Whooper swans wintering in Ireland. Photo: birdwatchireland.ie

The most difficult situation is for the Russian swans. In order to get to relatively warm wintering grounds (at least with temperatures above 0°С), they have to travel thousands of kilometers. Every winter at the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, tens of thousands of whooper swans arrive. Big groups of Siberian swans find winter shelter in China in Hunan, Shandong and other provinces.

Swans in winter in Shandong province in China. Photo: NewChina.tv

However, sometimes birds choose non-freezing lakes or rivers for wintering in regions with sub-zero temperatures. Lake Kussharo at Hokkaido island in Japan is famous all over the world. Photographers and birdwatchers from many countries come to take photos of swans on a lake surrounded by snow.

Whooper swans at the Lake Kussharo in Japan

But in Russia there are also several places where swans spend the winter in spite of more severe climate.

The largest wintering place for whoopers and mute swans in Russia is the Volga delta and the coast of the Caspian Sea in the Astrakhan region. The Volga Delta is an ideal place for wintering, due to the abundance and availability of food, up to 50 thousand whoopers and up to 100 thousand mute swans gather there. But there are also frosty winters, when lakes and ponds are covered with ice, then flocks of swans fly further south, to the western coast of the Caspian Sea – to Dagestan and Azerbaijan, where the cold no longer threatens them.

Another place for wintering of whooper swans in Russia is Kamchatka, where lakes are not frozen due to thermal springs. On the territory of Kronotsky Nature Reserve about 300 whooper swans spend winters. Also, birds have chosen a lake near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, where the thermal power plant emits warm water. 

Already several years in a row about 30 birds winter on the non-freezing section of the Vuoksa River in the Leningrad Region. From time to time not big groups of swans are observed in the south of Urals, in Bashkiria. 

Sometimes single birds or couples stay on lakes that do not freeze during warm years in the south or in the European part of Russia. In cold years, when the lake is completely covered with ice, this can turn into a tragedy. 

Swans in winter in Astrakhan region Photo: Perkovsky M., Mesccheryakov, /astravolga.ru/

But you must admit that the climate of Kamchatka and the Leningrad region, Bashkiria, and even Hokkaido is much softer than in Altai. With an average January temperature of minus 20-24 degrees Celsius and frequent frosts of minus 35-40 Celsius, there are several wintering places in Altai!

Firstly, Lake Svetloe, where the Lebediny reserve is organized. The lake is fed by a large number of underground sources with a temperature of +5 + 6 degrees Celsius, so it never completely freezes. In 2023, the Altai branch of the Russian Bird Conservation Union conducted a census and counted more than 1,200 whooper swans here. Secondly, this is Molodezhny village near Biysk, where, due to the release of warm water from the thermal power plant, a large area of the Biya River does not freeze. More than 400 birds winter there. Also, in some years, small groups of wintering whooper swans are observed in the area of the village of Yailyu on Lake Teletskoye and on the Biya River in the Turochaksky district.

Thus, Altai is the coldest wintering place for swans in Russia, but at the same time so numerous!!!

Swans at the Swan Lake in Altai Photo: J. Van der Kooij

And what about in the Anadyr region of Chukotka? This is the Arctic, there are no non-freezing reservoirs, so swans cannot winter there. They come there to nest. Probably, the mistake came from the fact that in Russia there are 2 reserves under the name “Swan” – in Altai and Chukotka.” The main task of Chukotka swan reserve to protect the nesting whooper swans. By the way, there is an interesting film about these two wildlife sanctuaries called “Swan Paradise” on the channel “Culture”. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGZimbfdzDI)

And we invite you to observe swans. We offer both one-day excursions and an 8-day tour with a visit to the Swan Lake.

An absolutely incredible event took place in our June trip! We met a wild bear, and not a common brown bear but almost a ghost – the Sailugem bear.

For no moment we thought it this trip would be different than other trips we do in the park. We got our guides Erkin and Alexander who took us to the nice places and made sure we were safe at all times. To start with we noticed almost 15 birds of prey flying in the sky, including a rare guest in the park, a juvenile Himalayan vulture who had joined the monk vultures. Besides the monk and the bearded vulture this is the third species of vultures we have seen in the park.
But suddenly Erkin and Alexander waved at us, we should be quiet and follow them, downhill, down a very steep hill actually, only much later when we climbed back up we noticed how steep. We expected to see sitting vultures or argali but Alexander whispered it was a bear. When we arrived at a flat rock, we noticed the leg of a big fluffy animal some 60-70 meters below us. Soon it showed itself completely, and to our surprise, it was a real Sailugem bear, blond and very beautiful. It walked around a bit and we were happy we could make some pictures and video as evidence, just to show the world the Sailugem bear really exists. We were really excited and impressed at that moment, and when the bear disappeared, we realised we saw something very very special.

Till today the status and the amount of this kind of bear are not determined. Some scientists consider bears living in the area of Sailugem range as a subspecies of a brown bear, others completely deny its existence, third ones refer it to Tyan-Shan bear. For some period this bear had been considered to be extinct until it was discovered in the wildcams of the park again.

So, now it is up to the scientists to find out if this is a subspecies of the brown bear, or a species of its own. We are very curious of course and hope our pictures will help to determine it.

During every trip we make to the Altai mountains, we meet a lot of animals, one species is the argali – a wild mountain sheep with huge horns, sometimes we see them from very close, sometimes from a distance. Of course we always try to get as close as possible without disturbing them. This time we made a funny video of how the argali sees us when we try to get closer for pictures.

If you want to take your own pictures of argali, join our trips to Altai!

Swans are not common birds for the south of Altai, nevertheless this year one bird strayed and left for winter on a lake near Kosh-Agach. Kosh-Agach is one of the coldest places in Altai, and the lake started actively freezing in the beginning of December. So, the bird would have died without help of people.

A rescue mission was held by local firemen. They caught the bird and handed it over to the rangers of Sailugem national park. Later the rangers delivered it to Lake Svetloye, which is about 700 km from the place where the swan was found.

Lake Svetloye is a unique place in Altai. Due to hot streams at the bottom, the lake never freezes, even when temperature drops to -40 °C. For that reason many local swans don’t migrate to the south and stay here all the winter. At this moment the number of wintering on the lake swans is about 350. Next to many other birds living on the water.

The stray swan was examined by the ornitologists. They found out that it is female and possibly had some injures on its left side. Two rings were put on the swan – one metal on the leg and another red plastic – on the neck in order to observe it on the lake. After releasing, the swan swam to the far bank of the lake and for long time bathed and cleaned her feathers.Thanks to the help of the firemen, the rangers and many others, the swan will stay alive and have a nice time during the winter in Altai.

Pictures: Sailugem park, Jaap van der Kooij

Video: A. Tyryshkin

Altai is home to significant populations of birds of prey. Many of them are in the Red List of Russia or endangered globally. White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle, Imperial Eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Saker Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Eagle Owl, Black Vulture, Bearded Vulture and other species are doing relatively well in Southern Siberia.

During our trips in Altai we observe a lot of raptors, flying in the sky, sitting on the ground, eating carrion or sometimes even feeding chicks in the nest. We decided to make a special section on our site devoted to birds and animals of Altai. But we wouldn’t like to give a description of all species which inhabit Altai. We will show you the birds which we observe rather often during our trips and pictures which we made ourselves.

This post we will be dedicated to eagles.

Steppe Eagle

Golden Eagle

This year in our trip “Explore Altai” we were lucky to meet one of the largest and one of the rarest raptors in Europe – the bearded vulture.

And we not just saw it flying in the sky but even were camping close to its nest. To be honest not really close because the nest was built on high rock ledges about 100 meters above us. But we could watch the life of these fascinating birds. When we arrived in the morning a juvenile was sitting alone in the nest but the next morning his mom arrived, fed him about an hour and then flew in the sky around the nest.

It was a bit difficult to make pictures because of the distance and bright sun but we really enjoyed to be witnesses of their life.

Join us in 2018 to see it with your own eyes!

Some interesting facts about the bearded vultures (Lammergier).

1. The bearded vulture is one of the biggest birds of prey.
They can reach up to a height of 1-1.15 metres and weigh between 5-7 kg. The wingspan is about 2.5-2.7 meters.

2. Its second name in many languages means “Lamb-vulture”, but it appeared due the myths.
Severe appearance and specific diet of the vulture formed a bad image of taking away lambs and even little children. But the bearded vultures do not hunt live prey, they are scavengers, eating mostly dead animals.

3. The main food of the Lammergier is bones and bone marrow (70-90% of its diet).
The acid in his stomach has a pH of about 1, so the bones can be digested easily. The bird drops the large bones from a height on to rocks in order to get them cracked, and immediately flies in a spiral way down following them. Sometimes it repeats throwing bones for many times. They swallow the smaller bones as whole.

4. They are the only vultures that don’t have a bald head.
Dark short hairs under the chin gives the bird the look of having a beard, that give the species its English name.

5. The yellow or rust feathers on their head, breast and leg are actually cosmetic.
This color may come from taking baths in dusty soils stained with iron oxide, rubbing mud on its body or from drinking water with a lot of minerals in it. Captive born birds are therefore not rusty or yellow but have a more white color.

6. The bearded vultures are monogamous birds.
Sometimes a young male lammergeier can join an existing pair to create a polyandrous trio. Although they usually have two eggs, only the strongest juvenile survives.

7. They are among the top 10 highest flying birds in the world.
They are able of fly up to an altitude of 7000 meters above groundlevel.

The Altai region is a land of biodiversity of plants and animals. It is home for rare and endemic species, including legendary snow leopard, argali, lynx, Pallas’s cat and many others. The Red List of Threatened Species of the Altai Republic includes 135 animals and 172 plants.

In 2017 a new release of The Red List will be issued, and 10 more animals will be added into it. The Siberian musk-deer, the Himalayan vulture, the Swan goose and the Great egret are among them.

The Altai Republic is the only place in Russia where the Himalayan vulture was observed by scientists. This species is usually found along the Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau. The Swan goose was considered to be extinct in Altai, but a few birds were noticed not long ago. The Great egret is a rare and insufficiently studied species in Russia. On the whole, it is distributed primarily across the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world. The population of the Siberian musk deer is declining because of hunting for its musk gland. The Siberian musk deer is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

The new edition of The Red List will differ by the structure of information. The area of habitat of endangered animals will be not mentioned in order not to become a guide for poachers.

Pictures: By Николай Усик / http://paradoxusik.livejournal.com/ (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons, By Корзун Андрей (Kor!An) (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons, By Andrea Westmoreland from DeLand, United States (Your Majesty!) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Monitoring and counting of snow leopards and mountain goats have been held in Russia. The works took place simultaneously in the Buryatiya, Tyva and Altai Republics. This year the researching area will be a record.

The main task is to update the number of snow leopards, study its main populations in Russia. This information is necessary for being successful in protecting snow leopards.
This year upon an initiative of WWF the journalists of leading world media: National Geographic, Guardian, NBC, RIA Novosti, NTV, media of the Netherlands joined snow leopard monitoring on the territory of Sailugem National park in Altai.

The journalists visited the remotest corners of the park, where wildcams are installed, together with park rangers found snow leopard’s marks, learnt to differ their footprints on snow from other animals. Unfortunately, they were not so lucky to see a snow leopard with their own eyes. But they were very close! Just several hours before a wildcam filmed the rare cat.
The group didn’t meet a snow leopard but saw a lot of wild animals – mountain sheeps, goats, yaks, falcons.

Nienke Beintema (the Netherlands): “I am impressed very much by the Altai Republic. When I was going here, I was said that I would see the second Switzerland. Actually Altai mountains don’t look like the Alps, they are better. People, who live here, are so open and hospitable and committed to their land. They have to sacrifice themselves for study and conservation of snow leopards. Due to them these big cats will live on our planet”.

Now millions of people will get to know what Altai and Sailugem park are. Reports and news that somewhere in Russia a group of dedicated people do their best to save an endangered animal will be shown all over the world.

Source: Sailugem National park (http://sailugem.ru/index.php/432-sajlyugemskij-press-tur-na-snezhnogo-barsa
Pictures: V. Semenchenko, A. Kuzhlekov