
Konstantin Lepsky, state inspector of the Kronotsky State Nature Reserve, said: 'When we patrolled the area, we walked along the lake in snowshoes for about 18 kilometres.
'From the observation tower at Travyanoy we looked around the horizon in all directions. The lake was completely frozen. Only in the mouth of the River Hakytsin could we see a little ice hole, where ducks and swans were swimming, and Steller's sea eagles were spotted.'
Most of the birds were forced to relocate to Avacha Bay, near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The lake formed in a caldera after two large volcanic explosions, one 41,500 radiocarbon years ago and the other around 6440 BC.














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