Up at Bean Point (the northern tip of Anna Marie Island) yesterday, I encountered a large flock of red knots resting on the beach. By my count, 210 of those migrants joined lesser numbers of sanderlings, willets and ruddy turnstones. As is often the case, eBird's algorithm questioned my "unusually high estimate for the date and location."
Red knots are mid-sized sandpipers that breed across the high Arctic, from North America to Eurasia. While some winter on sub-tropical and tropical coasts, most head to South America or Australia where they may congregate in huge flocks. Threatened by the overfishing of horseshoe crabs on the eggs of which they feed during their long migrations, red knots are uncommon visitors on the Gulf Coast of Florida, usually (in my experience) observed in small flocks of a dozen or so individuals.
Yesterday's flock was the largest I have yet to encounter in Manatee County; a few were drilling the wet stand for marine invertebrates but most stood at attention, crowded together and oblivious of the humans that wandered by. Decked out in their rather drab winter plumage, their fortitude and endurance still shined through.
Red knots are mid-sized sandpipers that breed across the high Arctic, from North America to Eurasia. While some winter on sub-tropical and tropical coasts, most head to South America or Australia where they may congregate in huge flocks. Threatened by the overfishing of horseshoe crabs on the eggs of which they feed during their long migrations, red knots are uncommon visitors on the Gulf Coast of Florida, usually (in my experience) observed in small flocks of a dozen or so individuals.
Yesterday's flock was the largest I have yet to encounter in Manatee County; a few were drilling the wet stand for marine invertebrates but most stood at attention, crowded together and oblivious of the humans that wandered by. Decked out in their rather drab winter plumage, their fortitude and endurance still shined through.
