Red Knot Survey With Alaska Department of Fish and Game - Controller Bay

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         Extremely fortunate and thankful to have spent the last 12 days in Controller Bay surveying Red Knots with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Had some awesome times, met some great people, and got some fantastic pictures. Identified a total of 56 confirmed bird species on our camp bird list including the targeted Red Knots, and saw some other non-avian creatures like coyote, bear, wolf, and moose. Hiked nearly 100 miles of mudflats doing our surveys, and added another 50+ in the boat. Tallied close to 8,000 photos of flagged Red Knots, many other shorebirds, waterfowl, and everything in-between. Fascinated at the mix of waterfowl and shorebirds and how they intermingle. 

        We had terrific weather for most of our surveys, which were conducted two hours before and after high tide, for a four hour window. Red Knots typically feed along the tide line, so they follow the waters edge as it comes up, and sporadically spread out over the mudflats more as it recedes. Right at high tide, they often roost, which made surveying even more difficult because they roost on one leg. Following our survey protocol, those birds on one leg could not be counted in our "scans." Birds and their legs were examined in our scans using spotting scopes in our four hour window, but we often went past designated times when birds were abundant in our later days afield. Abundance, diversity, and the few flags we encountered were then recorded using iPads in the field and paper data sheets when we returned to camp that night. Benthic sampling was another activity we conducted during our trip. Benthic samples will be used to analyze prey availability and abundance for Red Knots in Controller Bay, which has recently been identified as a key stopover site for the declining species. 

        Many of the days we surveyed Red Knots, we also saw an abundance of waterfowl, including 3,000 or so Snow Geese that came within 50 yards of our camp. Neat to see first hand what Ducks Unlimited and its partners, like the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, are working together to conserve, both directly and indirectly. 

        More photos will be posted later and can be found on Instagram @the_du_dusky_intern



What we were after the whole trip, a flagged Red Knot.

View through the spotting scope of a group of roosting Red Knots.

A benthic sample from one of our transects with Macoma Clams and a Polychaete Worm.

Got transported by plane to and from our camping location.

The Copper River from above.

Fog rolled in on our last survey day making it challenging to scan this group of Knots.

Several full moon nights provided for some massive tide swings, washing away some of our gear one morning.

There is a flagged Red Knot in this photo, can you spot it?

Got caught in an outgoing tide every time we took the boat out. Other times we opted to empty gear from the boat and drag it, but this time we let mother nature do the work and bring the tide back up as we enjoyed the sunset.

Remembered the wheels for the boat on this day as we wheeled it to safety after a day of surveying. 

Bear tracks were common as we hiked along the flats.

Scanning a flock of Knots and other shorebirds.

Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Mallard, and Green-winged Teal mixed with Dunlin and Western Sandpipers.

Flagged Knot (left-middle) through the spotting scope. 

Camera took a few beatings, but none worse than this. 

Snow Geese in front of camp.

Flock of Pacific Black Brant over various shorebirds.

Dunlin were probably the most common shorebird we saw, but had mostly migrated through by the time we departed.

Green-winged Teal and Dunlin.








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