Connect the Red Knots

You are now enlisted to help out the environment. The Red Knot (Calidris canutus), is a a shorebird whose numbers have suffered a notable reduction in the last few years and it is believed some could have reached the coasts of Panama.

Researchers at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur, in the city of La Paz, with support from Pronatura Noroeste and a local company, have been tagging Red Knots since 2006 at Guerrero Negro, the only known Mexican winter migration site.

To date they have banded around 600 birds, and close to 45 per cent of them have been seen again. Many of the banded birds have been reported to the north, in California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

Although Guerrero Negro is the southern limit of their overwintering, Panama has excellent characteristics for shorebirds.

Get out, get some fresh air and help detect and monitor Red Knots in the Bay of Panama and on other parts of the Panama coastline.

Some of these shorebirds have an aluminum band on one leg, and all of them have, on the other leg, a red band and a yellow tag with a number. If you see one, try to read the number and send us a report (including especially the date and place of observation) to the following e-mail address: playeros@panamaaudubon.org.

An adult Red Knot measures 23–26 cm long with a 47–53 cm wingspan. It has short dark legs and a medium thin dark bill.

The alternate, or breeding, plumage is mottled grey on top with a cinnamon face, throat and breast and light-coloured rear belly. The alternate plumage of females is similar to that of the male except it is slightly lighter and the eye-line is less distinct.

The transition from alternate to basic plumages begins at the breeding site but is most pronounced during the southwards migration. The molt to alternate plumage begins just prior to the northwards migration to the breeding grounds, but is mostly during the migration period.

The large size, white wing bar and grey rump and tail make it easy to identify in flight. When feeding, the short dark green legs give it a characteristic 'low-slung' appearance.

The red knot is truly a master of long-distance aviation. Red knots fly more than 9,300 miles from south to north every spring and repeat the trip in reverse every autumn, making this bird one of the longest-distance migrants in the animal kingdom.

When foraging singly, they rarely call, but when flying in a flock they make a low monosyllabic knutt and when migrating they utter a disyllabic knuup-knuup.

The display song of the male is a fluty poor-me. The display includes circling high with quivering wing beats and tumbling to the ground with the wings held upward. The Red Knot does not regurgitate undigested hard parts of prey, as do many species of birds. Instead it excretes the hard parts in the feces. Researchers have used fecal content to examine food consumption rates.

Red knots' unique and impressive life history depends for its success, on certain conditions. So get your sun hat and help save the birdies.