Red knots

[Peregrine Harlequin]

This was in the early edition of Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer. Sure, copying it might be frowned upon, but people need to know.

"A shorebird veers toward extinction"
by Sandy Bauers

In the next week or so, what could be the final fragment of a once-vast population of shorebirds - the red knots - will touch down on Delaware Bay beaches in search of food.

Based on dire news about the bird, New Jersey officials have vowed to do all they can to make sure they get the nutrition they need, including patrolling some beaches to keep people away and stringing wire to keep off gulls.

The red knots "have gone from an undeniably majestic display of nature to a tragic remnant," said Larry Niles, head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Endangered and Nongame Species Program.

The russet-plumed birds have one of the longest migrations on the planet - from Tierra del Fuego on the tip of South America to the Arctic.

The latest count from Tierra del Fuego in February was just 17,600 birds, less than half the seating capacity of Citizens Bank Park. That was 13,000 fewer birds than last year, and it placed them squarely on track for extinction in 2010.

"It's horrifying," said Royal Ontario Museum ornithologist Allan J. Baker, who charted the extinction curve in 2003. "The new count... fits exactly on the trend line."

If it went extinct, the red knot would join the carrier pigeon and 10 other U.S. birds that have vanished since Pennsylvania's John James Audubon painted birds in the 1800s.

Niles, who has documented ever-declining counts of the birds along its migration path for a decade, believes that overharvesting of horseshoe crabs on the bay is a major reason. The red knots rely on the fat-rich eggs to fuel their virtually nonstop flight to their arctic breeding grounds.

Last year, with new limits on crab harvesting and good weather, there were plenty of eggs for the birds that came through.

The problem was, not many did. Once 100,000 flocked to the Delaware Bay. Last year 13,315 did.

Given February's count in Tierra del Fuego, Niles believes that many red knots didn't reach the Arctic last spring, or failed to reproduce. In June, his team found nests with fewer than the usual four eggs, and late snows may have killed the young.

Now, he and others fear, the knot population has declined so far that the simple vagaries of nature - stormy weather on the bay during crab egg-laying season, for instance - could prompt a sudden, final collapse.

"The trajectory of the population might be unstoppable at this point," Niles said.

Still, local officials and volunteers from around the globe aren't giving up.

Marty McHugh, head of the DEP's Division of Fish and Wildlife, said conservation officers will patrol prime feeding beaches, now restricted during knot season. Humans - even worse, dogs - scare the birds off.

In addition, researchers will construct experimental wire meshes over the beaches to keep out gulls, a brasher bird that vies for crab eggs.

The knots, with wingspans of 12 inches, would be able to fly through; the gulls, with 20-inch wingspans, would not.

Gulls, unlike knots, will eat garbage. Niles laughingly admits that he considered asking Cape May to leave out more trash in May to lure the gulls there, but he figured that abundant food would only bolster their population.

Niles is reluctantly mulling over whether to scuttle their research in May because it involves netting the birds to gather physical data and band them. Niles would hate to have a blank spot in the data - which is more comprehensive than for any other shorebird - but he also believes that it's critical not to disturb the birds.

Meanwhile, he is doing the groundwork needed to land the red knot on the national endangered species list. New Jersey now lists it as threatened.

There is some hope.

This week, a team in Argentina reported that the red knots had just left there in good condition. "They are very fat, and they have molted into their breeding plumage already," said Baker, the ornithologist.

Then, weather satellite data showed "a nice big wind" to help blow them across Brazil.

If nothing bad happens to them in Brazil and they get favorable winds after refueling there, Baker expects them to get to the Delaware Bay early. If eggs on the bay are plentiful, the birds would be in prime condition for breeding in the Arctic.

That's a lot of ifs.

McHugh of the DEP said officials might consider more restrictions on the horseshoe crab harvet, although that would not affect this year's food supply.

The plight of the red knot, he said, "has gained coast-wide attention. ... We're doing everything we can right now."

Not everyone agrees.

Eric Stiles, of the New Jersey Audubon Society, has renewed his pleas for an immediate crab harvest moratorium and called on legislators to begin assistance programs for displaced watermen. He also said companies that bleed horseshoe crabs for medical use - their blood has anti-clotting properties - should be held to higher standards.

After the crabs are returned to the water, 10 percent to 20 percent die, the industry norm. That could be brought down to 2 percent, Stiles said.

"Conservation, when you get so close to extinction, boy, it becomes a risky game," he said. "At this point, it's going to take a huge amount of effort and money" for the bird to recover.

If it can.

Stiles remembers his parents taking him to see the bay's great shorebird migration, which includes other species, when he was a boy.

His own daughter will turn 4 on May 10, and he's planning a birthday trip to see the knots from one of the designated viewing areas.

"Literally, my daughter may not have that opportunity" again, he said. "It is reason for incredible concern and sorrow."

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To read about an expedition to Chile to track the vanishing red knots, and to view multimedia presentations about the trip and the birds' migration, go to http://go.philly.com/redknots.

[Franciscus]

I hope something can be done. It seems that humans are crowding everyone else off the planet at an alarming rate.

[Peregrine Harlequin]

I know I'm digging up an old post here, but I was glad to find this article online today. And I've got to find out how I can get my name on this petition, or one like it.