Government and Business Collaborate Internationally for Red Knot Surveys in Chile

Bahía Lomas / © Diego Luna Quevedo

In January, Chile's national petroleum company, ENAP (its Spanish acronym), in partnership with Environment Canada and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, facilitated aerial monitoring of the rufa subspecies of Red Knot (Calidris canutus) at Bahía Lomas by Canadian and Chilean shorebird scientists. Bahía Lomas, a WHSRN Site of Hemispheric Importance, is located near the mouth of the Straits of Magellan on the northeast coast of Tierra del Fuego. It is the primary wintering site for the majority of the world’s rapidly declining population of rufa Red Knots.

In Canada, the population of rufa that winters in Tierra del Fuego has been designated as Endangered, a precursor to federal listing; in the United States, the rufa subspecies is a candidate for listing as federally Endangered. The subspecies has already been listed as Endangered in Appendix I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS, or Bonn Convention), at Argentina’s urging. 

Red Knots (Calidris canutus rufa) / © Patricia González

Guy Morrison (Environment Canada’s National Wildlife Research Centre) and Chilean biologist, Ricardo Matus, gathered important data on the rufa population thanks to ENAP, who generously provided them with meals, accommodations, and the company helicopter and pilot. With this support, Morrison and Matus were able to conduct aerial surveys over the 150,000-acre (58,946-hectare) bay. Aerial surveys on the wintering areas are the most effective method to ascertain population status and determine whether conservation measures are leading to recovery of the population. Preliminary results in 2010 suggest the population remains at a low level and no significant recovery has yet occurred. 

The partners’ press release, which received considerable coverage by Chilean news media, is available (PDF, in Spanish) in the WHSRN Press Room.

For more information, please contact Diego Luna Quevedo (diego.luna@manomet.org), Southern Cone Programs Coordinator, Shorebird Recovery Project, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences.