NATURE OF THE KIZHI SKERRIES

The fauna of the land vertebrates

Zaonezhye Peninsular can boast a specific variety of fauna. There are 233 land vertebrates, including 190 species of birds, 36 of mammals, and 7 of amphibians and reptiles. The limits of distribution of many species of northern and southern origin, of western and eastern varieties of the fauna overlap in Zaonezhye.

The woods of Zaonezhye have preserved a rich fauna of game, especially of elk, alpine hair, fox, that have very high population densities. Also bears, badgers, martens, lynxes, and otters can be found here. There is abundance of forest game birds, especially wood grouse, black grouse and hazel hen. The islands and coastal area abound in colonies of gulls, the most common being river gulls, herring gulls and terns. Numerous river and diving ducks, sandpipers nest here. Among them there are a lot of rare and vulnerable species: black-throated divers, loons, wigeons, water pheasant, lesser black-backed gulls.

The list of rare and vulnerable fauna species on the territory of Zaonezhye is very long and contains 38 species of land vertebrates. Osprey, golden eagle, white-tailed eagle, perigrine falcon, swan, barnacle goose are included in the Red Book of the USSR. Kestrel, Aesalon columbarius, gray crane, eagle owl, great gray owl, snowy owl, black goose, lesser white-fronted goose, weasel, flying squirrel, roe, otter, adder, blind-worm, spotted newl are included in the Red Book of Karelia.