Monday morning and I am off to Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego. Vance is really envious. He has to stay in Chascomus and work. I tell him that I will be working too but he doesn't seem to believe that bird watching, capturing, banding and monitoring Red Knots is real work. Ahh life is good when work and pleasure are the same thing.
Although summer is approaching, the tempurature in Rio Grnade will be around 10 degrees on nice days with the nights dipping below zero.
The Red Knot is a shorebird that nests in the Canadian Arctic and winters in Tierra del Fuego Argentina. It is a long distance migrant covering almost 20,000 kms each year on a round trip. Now classified as endangered in Canada, the Red Knot population has experienced serious decline in the last few years. While reasons for the decline are not well understood, overharvest of horseshoe crab eggs as bait for the fishery in Delaware Bay is a major contributing factor.
Our work in Tierra del Feugo will monitor adults and young returning from the Arctic breeding grounds as well as sample for diseases such as Avian Influenza.
For more information on the Red Knot project check out the following link: http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/08/red_knot_report.html
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