threatened and eight endangered ). Of the eight threatened species , there are five you have a good chance to see around Kiawah Island .
One of our local threatened species is the red knot ( Calidris canutus ), about which much has been written in this magazine . As they migrate from the southern hemisphere to their Arctic breeding grounds , they visit Kiawah ’ s beach generally between March and May . You will see them singly or in small groups but more generally in large flocks that can number in the hundreds . Indeed , if you see a large number of birds in a flock on the beach in the spring , it is likely they are red knots .
There are five subspecies of red knots , but the common one here is rufa . In the spring migration season , they feed on invertebrates in the intertidal zone while here on Kiawah . Enormous flocks of migrating red knots are also found in Delaware Bay where , in the right season , they feed on horseshoe crab eggs .
Another threatened bird is the piping plover ( Charadrius melodus ). ( Some authoritative books list the bird as “ globally threatened and endangered .”) They begin to arrive on Kiawah Island in August , and some winter over here . They are small ( about seven inches long ) and dun-colored . You will see them by themselves or in a small flock . As one book on shorebirds describes them , they are “ an inconspicuous bird ” found on dry , sandy beaches . They are classified as one of four “ small belted plovers .” Others of that group you will see here are the fairly common semipalmated plover and the less common Wilson ’ s plover .
Red knots on the Kiawah beach . Piping plover .
SUMMER / FALL 2017 • VOLUME 38
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