Changes in bird habitats and summer avifauna of Tyuleny island for the last 60 years

The paper considers changes in the species composition of summer avifauna and habitats of birds on Tyuleny Islands in the northern part of the Caspian Sea in the last 60 years. Tyuleny Island repeatedly experienced dramatical transformations of ecosystems up to their complete destruction. Even in historical time it raised interest of the first Caspian’s explorers, then submerged and lifted again, was almost completely cultivated and finally abandoned by people. For the last 60 years the landscape and summer avifauna of Tyuleny Island have substantially changed. A total of 77 bird species were recorded on Tyleny during summer observations, of them only 15 species in 1956, 59 species in 2008, and 49 - in 2015. In 1956 the island supported proved or supposed breeding of 7 species, in 2008 - 46, and in 2015 - 31 species. The paper shows that the growth of breeding birds on the island in the second half of the 20th century is related to the formation of diverse bird habitats covering almost all variety of landscapes in the Caspian Depression.