Carolinabirders and shorebird enthusiasts,

Last week Ricky Parker contacted us to say he saw a color banded and
'flagged' Red Knot on 12/30/2007 at Huntington Beach State Park on the
south side of Murrells Inlet, SC.

He described the bird as having a green flag on left leg above the knee,
orange band on left leg below knee, metal band on right leg above knee,
red band on right leg below knee.
The "shorthand description" for this bird's color band combination is:
Fg/O:m/R

Then on 1/12/2008 Jerry Kerschner photographed the same bird.

Bill Pitts of the Endangered & Nongame Species Program, NJ Division of
Fish & Wildlife reports that this bird "is not one of the Delaware Bay
banding schemes; it seems most likely that it was banded in 2002 in New
Jersey. Bill also notes that "it appears this bird has lost a couple of
bands."

Now the interesting thing is that a bird of this exact color band / flag
combination was photographed at Huntington Beach SP on November 25, 2006.

Despite the fact that the bird's 'flag' was an early model which lacks
an individualized printed number, it is noteworthy that the "cohort
banded" bird (one of a small group of birds with same color bands) is
missing the same combination of color bands.  This seems to imply that
it is the same individual returning to winter at the Huntington Beach
State Park area.

See the following web page for November 2006 and January 2008 photos of
the bird and additional details:

http://www.crbo.net/SC_Shorebird_resighting_project.html


Cases like this demonstrate how color-banded and "flagged" shorebirds
such as Red Knots are one of the best ways for birders and "citizen
scientists" to make important contributions to bird research and
conservation.

Happy shorebirding,

Nathan Dias
---
Executive Director
Cape Romain Bird Obsevatory
http://www.crbo.net/
PO Box 362
McClellanville, SC, USA 29458