red knot, credit: Cláudio Dias Timm CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Endangered Provincially and Nationally

Description

• Plump, medium-sized shorebird named for its brick-red face, throat and breast in breeding plumage
• Back is speckled grey-brown; straight black beak
• Prefers open beaches, mudflats, and coastal lagoons to feed on molluscs, crustaceans and other invertebrates

Range

• Found on coastal mudflats along the southwest coast of Hudson Bay and James Bay during migration

Threats

• Food loss at migration sites (decline of horseshoe crab populations due to unregulated commercial harvesting)
• Habitat loss and degradation (as a result of pollution, recreation and development)
• Climate change

Protection

• Provincially protected under Endangered Species Act, 2007
• Federally protected under the Species at Risk Act, 2002 and under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994

Fact

The rufa subspecies of red knot has shown a 70 percent decline in population in the past 15 years.