Migrating red knot first bird declared threatened by climate change

BY JENNY STALETOVICH

A flame-crested shorebird that makes one of the longest migrations on the planet has become the first bird declared threatened by the effects of climate change, federal wildlife officials said Tuesday.

The rufa red knot, which travels about 18,000 miles every year from wintering grounds in Tierra del Fuego to Canada, joins the polar bear as another species suffering from shrinking habitat and food supplies caused by rising sea levels and climbing temperatures, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. The red knot’s range covers 27 countries and 40 states including Florida, along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

“The listing today sends a clear message about the threat that species like the red knot are facing from the effects of a changing global climate system,” Ashe said. U.S. wildlife officials will now map a critical habitat for the bird, which migrates across 40 states including Florida, along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Species that inhabit the planet’s extreme environments face more dire threats as coastlines shift and climate change interrupts food chains and expose species’ dependency on one another. To make its long flight, the red knot needs to gorge on horseshoe crab eggs so the bird times its flights and resting spots to coincide with the annual inland migration crabs make along the east coast of the United States to mate.

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