Ptichy Island (Shantar Islands)

Ptichy Island (Russian: Ostrov Ptichy, meaning Bird Island) is a small island in the Sea of Okhotsk. It is one of the Shantar Islands. It lies between the southwest point of Bolshoy Shantar and the mainland. It is a little over 1.6 km (1 mi) in length and rises to a height of 290 m (951 ft).[1]

History

Between 1857 and 1866, American whaleships hunted bowhead whales in the waters around Ptichiy.[2] They called it Stinker Island, "on account of the dead whales drifting along there from the ice".[3]

Fauna

In the summer there is a large colony of spectacled guillemot on the island, as well as a small nesting colony of thick-billed murre.[4]

References

  1. ↑ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. (2014). Sailing Directions (Enroute): East Coast of Russia. U.S. Government, Springfield, Virginia.
  2. ↑ Frances Henrietta, of New Bedford, Aug. 18, 1857, Nicholson Whaling Collection (NWC); Mary Frazier, of New Bedford, July 18, 1859, NWC; Cicero, of New Bedford, July 26, 1862, Kendall Whaling Museum (KWM); Josephine, of New Bedford, Sept. 25, 1864, Aug. 28, 1865, KWM; Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, Sept. 4, 1866, Old Dartmouth Historical Society.
  3. ↑ Williams, H. (1964). One whaling family. Boston, Houghton Mifflin.
  4. ↑ Kondratyev, A. Y., Litvinenko, N. M., Shibaev, Y. V., Vyatkin, P. S., & Kondratyeva, L. F. (2000). "The breeding seabirds of the Russian Far East". Seabirds of the Russian Far East, 37-81.

Coordinates: 54°35′59″N 137°04′47″E / 54.59972°N 137.07972°E / 54.59972; 137.07972

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