Fall Migration Focus: Red Knot
The Red Knot is listed globally as “Near Threatened, and Birdlife International explains the justification:
“Justification of Red List category
This species is listed as Near Threatened as it almost meets the requirements for listing as threatened under criteria A2abc+3bc+4abc. It has an extremely large range and six subpopulations across which trends are variable. The population trend of the largest subpopulation, islandica, is unclear as is the trend of roselaari. The rufa and canutus subpopulations have both experienced population declines. Two subpopulations use the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and have experienced significant declines owing to loss of habitat in the Yellow Sea. Should new research resolve uncertainties in the trends of several of these subpopulations the species may warrant uplisting or downlisting.”
Meanwhile, Birds of the World explains the Red Knot diet:
“Red Knots are principally marine shorebirds in the non-breeding season, when they feed on polychaete worms, small crabs, and marine mollusks, especially bivalves that they swallow whole and crush in their muscular gizzard. During spring migration, however, large flocks gorge on the eggs of horseshoe crabs (Limulus) that come ashore to spawn in late May at the penultimate stopover site in Delaware Bay – along the mid-Atlantic coast of the USA.”
Shrinking of their Arctic breeding habitat due to climate change and the overharvesting of Horseshoe Crabs in Deleware Bay are two reasons for the population decline.
The film Ready For Red Knots explains the plight of this species in the bay and the impact of storms like Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Although the Red Knot is considered a “Scarce Visitor” to Anguilla, a few birds use our shores and wetlands as stop-over sites in the Spring and Fall.
This long-distance migrant is often seen in its breeding plumage on Anguilla. The bird at the top of this post is one example. It was seen in May on Cove Pond IBA feeding along with several other shorebird species.
On a lucky day in late August 2020, I was able to see this banded bird on West End Pond after a tropical storm passed Anguilla. It was molting its breeding plumage, displaying a duller feather pattern than the Spring bird. The bird only spent one day at this location, but it was a special moment for me.
This individual was banded in Deleware Bay in 2018. The animated graphic above illustrates the distance traveled by this bird from the bay to the shores of Anguilla. I reported the resighting on Bandedbirds.org (see record below).
As you can see, no resighting data has been entered for this bird since it touched Anguilla’s shores in 2020. This could mean the bird was lost or no one has reported it.
Fall and Winter birds are less flashy and can blend in with other populations of shorebirds seen on our wetlands. Make sure you keep an eye out for this Anguilla visitor.
Enjoy a minute of the Red Knots that recently visited Anguilla and…
Take a Walk on the Wild Side!
How exciting when you spotted one in Anguilla!