Investigating red knot migration ecology along the Georgia coast: fall 2015 and spring 2013, 2015-16 season summaries

• Main Authors: Smith, F. M., Watts, B. D., Lyons, J., Keyes, T., Winn, B.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: W&M ScholarWorks 2017
• Subjects: Canada; Calidris canutus; Red Knot
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/ccb_reports/310; https://scholarworks.wm.edu/context/ccb_reports/article/1309/viewcontent/CCBTR_17_04_Georgia_Red_Knot_Population_Dynamics_2013_2015_2016_Report.pdf

The rufa subspecies of the Red Knot (Calidris canutus) has declined significantly in the past 35 years, leading to federal listing (US Fish and Wildlife Service Federal Register Vol. 79 No. 238, 2014a) under the Endangered Species Act in the United States (16 U.S.C. 1531 et. seq) and Canada (COSEWIC 2007, SARA 2007). The determination of regional population estimates and identification of major stopover sites are considered to be the highest priority for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources State Wildlife Action Plan (2015), the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Business Strategy (Winn et al. 2013), the US Shorebird Plan (Brown et al. 2001), the USFWS Red Knot Spotlight Species Action Plan (2010), and the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) Red Knot Conservation Plan for the Western Hemisphere (Niles et al. 2010a). The Georgia Department of Natural Resources State Wildlife Action Plan ranks the Red Knot as a high priority species (with state status of “Rare”) and ranks research of the Red Knot as one of the primary conservation actions needed within the state. A large percentage (3-6%) of Red Knots have been previously captured and tagged with unique 2 to 3 digits alpha-numeric bands. This marked population allows for mark-resight studies of migratory populations of Red Knots with no capturing involved. We detected a total of 43,686 Red Knots during daily surveys in spring 2016 along the Georgia Coast; of those, 10,029 were scanned for flags, and 1,255 individually banded Red Knots were resighted within the spring migrant population. A total of 158 marked to unmarked ratios were recorded during the field season, with an average of 3.8% of Red Knots individually marked over the course of the spring. The estimated superpopulation size for the spring 2016 season is 11,948 Red Knots (95% credible interval: 9,821 – 16,405). The mean Minimum-length-of-stay (MINLOS) for Red Knots staging in Georgia was 9.8day±11.1SD. A total of 3,805 Red Knots were detected on daily surveys during fall migration 2015; ...