this robin-sized shorebird has one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom
with wingspans of twenty inches some rufa red knots will fly more than 9,300 miles
every spring from the southern tip of South America
up the East Coast of the United States and into the Canadian Arctic to breed
only to repeat the trip in reverse during the fall migration
many of these migrating birds stop at the Delaware Bay on the trip north
nearly doubling their weight by feeding on horseshoe crab eggs before embarking
on the last leg of their journey to the Arctic Delaware Bay is unique in it provides a food
resource that's available to the Shorebirds nowhere else in
the world it provides a food resource that they can
put on weight at would be the equivalent for human being of say
eight pounds a day.
While populations have been relatively stable for the past 10
years, Knot numbers have remained low and vulnerable
to the effects of climate change,
along with many other bird species.
At the two best studied red knot concentration areas,
here on the Delaware Bay during the spring and then down at the southern tip
of South America on Tierra del Fuego during the winter, both of
those really important red knot areas saw roughly
75 percent declines from the baseline levels that were recorded
in the 1980s.
We have thoroughly reviewed the best available science on the rufa red knot, and have determined
that the shorebird meets the definition of threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to protect the
knot as threatened across all its range, which includes 40 states, 24 other countries
and their administrative territories or regions.
(Would it be too much to have a map with these states and countries highlighted?
If you think we should, maybe we could ask Kathy or Deb for help?)
the areas used by the knot in the US continue to be lost to sea level rise,
shoreline stabilization and development.
we know there's a lot of uncertainty about what's happening in
in the Arctic.
however we also know the Arctic is the area that's going to feel
the effects of climate change for instance soonest
and we see some indications of that possibly happening
climate change is affecting food resources, the timing of the bird's annual
cycle, and breeding habitat and predation in the
Arctic.
Other threats are moderate in comparison but could become more significant.
Scientists agree that a primary factor in the knot's population drop following
2000 was reduced food supplies in Delaware Bay
due to commercial harvest of the horseshoe crab.
there was a harvest of horseshoe crabs and in fact an
over harvest and these crabs were used for a variety of purposes including the
bait fishery and also biomedical purposes in recognition
of the declining stocks of horseshoe crabs in the important so the crabs to
the birds the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
has prepared a horseshoe crab fisheries management plan in 1998
and that plan has been revised several times most recently in 20
12 it was revised to incorporate scientific modeling
so that now the harvest levels are the crabs actually tied scientifically to the population
targets of the red not While the horseshoe crab population has not
yet fully rebounded, the framework should ensure no further threat to the knot from
the crab harvest.
local and regional conservation measures occur throughout the knot's range, and we are working
with many partners to understand the knot's needs and the necessary steps to protect into
the future The
added protection of the Endangered Species Act would strengthen and coordinate these
efforts This would not only implement federal protection
and prohibit certain practices that affect knots,
but it would also acknowledge the knot's conservation needs, threats and status, and the necessity
of working together for this species.
one of the big gaps in our knowledge is where the first year birds winter
and does so we have partnered with Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge up on
Cape Cod and conserve new jersey's wildlife
to put do locators on juvenile birds that stopped at Cape Cod
in the fall two years later when they come through Delaware Bay to go to their
breeding grounds if we can capture some of them we can locate where their
wintering habitat is that will allow us to assess how well their
wintering habitat is serving them and may give us a clue about what is or is
not happening in terms of the population
due to that you can learn what role your backyard plays
in the knot's life cycle and contact local conservation groups for information
on how you can help.
a very large percentage of red knots are marked with individual
flags on their legs with different countries based on the caller in which they were marked.
New Jersey Audubon has established a website called banded birds.org
so anywhere any person anywhere in the world with access
to the Internet can report have a flag bird and help us understand what's
going on and where their move moving to and what they're doing
Be a citizen scientist and report knot and other shorebirds sightings at bandedbirds.org
and ebirds.org Visit www dot FWS dot gov
slash northeast slash red knot to learn more, and join the informal
conversations on our Facebook blog and Twitter.