Longridge Point, James Bay, Ontario - Red Knots

14 July to 17 August 2010 - Page 1 of 6

The tip of Longridge is 5.7 km from camp.

Red Knots in bright alternate plumage on 18 July 2010. The knots were plump and healthy. At Longridge they undergo body molt and fatten for the nonstop migration to South America.

I thank Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) for inviting me to survey the endangered rufa subspecies of the Red Knot. Other team members were Christian Friis, Mike McMurtry, Doug McRae, Lisa Pollock, Don Sutherland and Ray Ford. Special thanks to Ken Abraham, Rod Brook and Sarah Hagey of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) for their support. The Royal Ontario Museum study of Red Knots and shorebirds is a cooperative effort with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources,  Natural Heritage Information Centre of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and Trent University. 

Red Knot with lime green flag KUL on upper left leg on 29 July. We sighted more than 249 individuals with flags from USA, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Canada. Many stayed two weeks and more to fatten up on the rich food resources of James Bay.

First Juvenile Red Knot on 9 August 2010. By 16 August about 8-10% of the knots were juveniles.

Mark Peck sampled the areas where Red Knots and other shorebirds were feeding. Larvae of bivalve Macoma balthica, marine worms, small crustaceans, and fly larvae are main foods of migrating shorebirds.

A molting adult Sanderling with a lime green flag feeding in kelp on 6 August 2010. It was banded on 27 May 2010 at Sunray Beach Preserve in New Jersey, USA. This website: http://report.bandedbirds.org/ReportResighting.aspx allows you to enter a sighting and find out where it was banded and resighted.

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