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Red Knots are well known for their long-distance migrations from their Arctic breeding grounds to southern South America and elsewhere. The global population is in decline. Three subspecies of Red Knot occur in Canada: Calidris canutus rufa, C. c. roselaari, and C. c. islandica. The islandica subspecies breeds in the northeastern High Arctic and migrates to Europe, the rufa subspecies breeds in the central Arctic and migrates to three separate wintering areas in Florida, north-central Brazil, and southern South America, and the roselaari subspecies breeds in northern Alaska and Russia and winters on the Pacific coast of the Americas, passing through western Canada on migration. All three subspecies are thought to have decreased, most notably the rufa population wintering in southern South America has shown dramatic declines leading to its current designation as Endangered (COSEWIC 2007f). The C.c. islandica population has also decreased over the last 40 years. Changes in the small number of C.c. roselaari that pass through Canada on migration are uncertain, but the subspecies' population as a whole is thought to have decreased. Given conservation concerns, Canada's responsibility for the species is best considered in terms of the individual subspecies. For further details, see the individual subspecies accounts.
Deteriorated foraging conditions at key staging and wintering sites are of particular concern for C. c. rufa and C. c. islandica. For C. c. islandica wintering on European coasts, shellfish dredging in the Dutch Wadden Sea has reduced availability of prey for knots and led to an 80% decline in numbers at the site. In North America, the harvest of horseshoe crabs has reduced the availability of horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay; these eggs are a key food resource for C. C. rufa during northward migration, and failure to attain adequate condition during migration has been shown to decrease knot survival. Habitat changes at sites used by C. c. roselaari on northward migration may also be affecting the birds. All three subspecies of Red Knots are long-distance migrants and reductions in availability of food resources at key sites could impair their ability to complete their annual migrations successfully. Climate change is expected to have a negative effect on arctic-breeding shorebirds because their conservative life-history strategy (low rate of reproduction and long lifespan) makes it difficult for them to quickly adapt to the effects of accelerated climate change on their breeding habitat (Meltofte et al. 2007). Effects may include: drying of tundra ponds (Smol and Douglas 2007, Stow et al. 2004), shrub encroachment (Tape and Racine 2006, Callaghan et al. 2005), asynchrony of insect-chick hatch (Tulp and Schekkerman 2008), unusual weather events (Tulp and Schekkerman 2006, Martin and Wiebe 2004) and changes in predation pressure.
Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:
Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.
