Towheeblog

A Red Know migrating northward has been sensed at Ankeny NWR. Here is a map of its migration so far:

In this hemisphere the knot breeds above the Arctic Circle in Canada, mostly islands in the Arctic Sea. Anywhere in Eurasia or Africa this species would be am extreme rarity. The demise of horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay is an exiostential threat to this species.
Our western sub-species may not be suffering like the numerous eastern one–here’s claification from Roy Lowe: “I read your blog about red knots and thought I’d better point something out.  The red knots in the Pacific Flyway are the subspecies  roselaari breeding in NE Alaska and Wrangle Island Russia.  The birds breeding in the Canadian Arctic are the rufa subspecies migrating along the east coast.”

And Roy Lowe provides this summary of Motus data from the Oregon Coast: “On 4.23.24 dunlin flew from Llano Seco near Glenn, CA to Bullard’s Bridge in Bandon 6 hrs 47 min.  If then was next detected at the Frazer River Mouth in Delta BC 17 hrs 19 min later.

On 4.25.24 a dunlin was detected in Newport that depart Salt Slough near Los Banos, CA  26 hrs 2 min earlier so it paused before reaching Newport but it was then detected in Cannon Beach 1 hr 32 min later of an average straight-line speed of 58.4 mph.  

A dunlin departed Bandon and was detected in Cannon Beach 3 hrs 20 min later for an average straight-line speed of 57.8 mph.

On 5.3.24 a dunlin departed Rogue River Preserve near Eagle Point, OR and was detected in Newport 3 hrs 50 min later.  After Newport it was detected 1 hr 30 min later at Cannon Beach for a straight-line average speed of 59.7 mph.

On 5.6.24 a long-billed dowitcher departed Sacramento NWR and was detected at Langlois 5 hrs 37 min later for a straight-line average speed of 47.8 mph.

On 5.6.24 a red knot departed Tomales Bay, CA and was next detected in Langlois 7 hrs 56 min later.  It was then detected at Controller Bay, AK  1 day 13 hrs 31 min later after flying 2,327 miles at an average straight-line speed of 38.5 mph

A Hermit Thrush was detected in Milpitas, CA (South San Francisco Bay) from March 15 to April 29.  It was next detected in Langlois 6 days 6 hrs 46 min later so it took it’s time coming north.

On 5.8.24 a red knot departed Guerrero Negro, Baja California and then was detected near the Salton Sea and the next detection after that was at Cartago, CA east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  It was then detected in Langlois 4 days 16 hrs and 46 min later.  A number of marked knots are taking inland routes and reach the Oregon coast from Langlois to Cannon Beach or further north.

On 5.16.24 a red knot departed Colusa NWR and was next detected in Langlois and spent about 5 hrs in the New River area.  It was detected Bullard’s Bridge in Bandon and then next at Ankeny NWR 13 hrs 24 min so it stopped along the way.  But here’s the ringer, after the Ankeny detection the bird backtracked to the WSW arriving at Yaquina Bay in 1 hr and 5 min later for a straight-line speed of 46 mph!

Besides the above, something else I find interesting is that only a single bird (dunlin) has been recorded along the Oregon coast that was also recorded at Humboldt Bay and there have been no red knot detections at Humboldt Bay.”