Red Knot

Red Knot

Calidris canutus Rauðbrystingur

During May, Knot occur along the west coast of Iceland, from Keflavik to the West Fjords while staging en route to arctic breeding grounds. In May 2017, a survey of seven areas known to be used by Knot in mid-western Iceland (Hvalfjordur to Stikkisholmur), resulted in a total of 37,000 Knot (J. Wilson, pers. comm.).

Despite the numbers of this species recorded in the vicinity of the Andakíll Ramsar site (the survey covered areas within 20 km to the north and south of the survey area), it is not used by large numbers of Knot. Knot were present in the survey area between 8th and 23rd May. Numbers built steadily and peaked at 145 birds on 23rd May. Two birds were recorded on 31st July. Knot were mainly recorded in the south of the survey area, in Grjóteyrarklakkur (Est 1) and Kistufjörđur (Est 2).

Number of individuals 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Low-tide Rising-tide

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Week number and month

Figure 3-89.Number of Calidris canutus recorded during weekly low tide and rising tide estuarine surveys in the Andakíll Ramsar site between 12th March and 25th October 2017.

Figure 3-90. Relative abundance of Calidris canutus during weekly (a) low tide and (b) rising tide estuarine surveys in the Andakíll Ramsar site between 12th March and 25th October 2017. Dots are randomly positioned within each subsite. While each dot refers to a single bird, it refers to the bird’s presence in that subsite only, and not the bird’s actual location.

(a) Low tide (b) Rising tide