Origins and age structure of Red Knot Calidris canutus staging and wintering on the Atlantic coast of France

Abstract

In western Europe, the coasts of Vendee and Charente-Maritime on the central Atlantic shoreline of France constitute the most southern wintering site for the Red Knot Calidris canutus islandica, welcoming around 37,000 individuals each winter, and also represent a key stopover area for C. c. canutus (up to 60,000 individuals) between Africa and the Wadden Sea in spring. Nevertheless, the origin of the birds in France arriving in the autumn is unclear, considering that the first islandica start to appear for wintering while canutus could use the same sites as a stopover on their migration route to Africa. We used biometric data from birds caught between 1983 and 2008 to assess the origin of Red Knot staging and wintering in France, and we also investigated the age structure of Red Knot groups during three distinctive periods of their biological cycle: autumn migration, wintering and spring migration. This first assessment was completed by data analysis of ring recoveries over a period of 44 years and isotopic ratio signatures of feathers. The obtained results were in conformity with the general patterns of distribution throughout the year and the timing of migration of both subspecies in Europe as described in previous reviews. Nevertheless, this study highlights two unknown features for both subspecies in this part of their European area distributions. First, a very large predominance of juveniles was recorded at the expense of an extreme rarity of adults in autumn and early winter. We prove the presence of canutus-knots among these juveniles, even with staging later in the autumn and the possibility of wintering there for some of them. Although the Atlantic coast of France welcomes only 9% of the population of islandica-knots wintering in Europe, this network of estuarine bays could represent a crucial strategic area for juveniles. The place could constitute a liberated area for islandica juveniles coming later than adults already settled in northern sites. It offers the possibility for canutus to migrate south on distance-limited stages in order to experiment with the flyway and refuel to join the traditional African wintering grounds.