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Chapter 12 - Coastal & Marine BirdsRed Knot (Calidris canutus rufa)The Red Knot is a western hemispheric subspecies of aglobally distributed migratory shorebird (Harrington2001). The five subspecies of red knot have varied distributionsand migration strategies but only the rufasubspecies occurs within the Northwest Atlantic. Thissubspecies spends its breeding season in the Arctic tundraof North America and its non-breeding season in coastalareas at the southern tip of South America. Between thesetwo areas, numerous stopover sites, including DelawareBay and the barrier islands of Virginia, are important forrefueling during migration.Red Knots arrive on breeding grounds from late May toearly June. While they breed on the tundra, knots spendmost of migration and nonbreeding periods in marine intertidalareas where they primarily feed on small mollusksin sandy area, mudflats, and peat banks. In addition, inthe Delaware Bay, they feed heavily on eggs deposited byhorseshoe crab on sandy beaches during northward springmigration (Harrington 2001).Southward migration from the Arctic begins by mid-Julyand knots are again seen within the Northwest Atlanticduring this time. They begin arriving at stopover areasin South America in the Guianas and northern Brazil bymid-August and spend the rest of the boreal winter insouthern Argentina and Tierra del Fuego (Harrington2001). Return migration begins along the coast of SouthAmerica from February through early April and birds arriveon the Delaware Bayshore from mid-April throughearly June.Least Tern (Sternula antillarum)The Least Tern has an extensive breeding range in coastalareas throughout the United States, Central America, theCaribbean, and northern South America as well as alonglarge river systems in the United States (Thompson etal. 1997). Within this broad range, the Tern breeds coloniallyon sandy beaches free of vegetation. Little is knownabout movements of Least Terns during the non-breedingseason, but Terns leave breeding areas of the UnitedStates, northern Mexico and the Caribbean and spendthe non-breeding season in Central and South America(Thompson et al. 1997).The breeding season begins in April to May, dependingon the location. Breeding pairs are monogamous andparticipate in courtship rituals. Nests consisting of simplescrapes in the sand house clutches of two to three eggs.Upon hatching, young need to be fed by adults until fledging(20 days) and up to several weeks beyond fledging,even after they have dispersed from the breeding colony.Migration timing and destinations are poorly known, althoughmarked birds breeding in coastal Massachusettsmigrated to northern South America for the non-breedingseason (Thompson et al. 1997).Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)The Piping Plover is a shorebird that breeds throughoutthe Northwest Atlantic area on beaches from NorthCarolina north to eastern Canada (Elliot-Smith and Haig2004). There is also an inland population that breedsalong rivers and in wetlands throughout the northernGreat Plains of the U.S. and Canada. These separatebreeding populations may receive subspecific designationin the future based on evidence that there is little mixingof individuals between the two populations. During thenon-breeding season, individuals occur along the coastsof the southeastern United States and the Gulf Coasts ofthe United States and Mexico during the non-breedingseason.© Gene Nieminen/USFWSNorthwest Atlantic Marine Ecoregional Assessment • Phase 1 Report 12-21