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Red Knot is somewhat familiar to me as a migrating species in the eastern United States- its unfortunate claim
to fame is its status as the species most effected by the over-exploitation by the fishing industry of the masses of
breeding horseshoe crabs on the coast of Delaware (migrating Red Knots are hugely dependant on horseshoe crab eggs as their
fuel for a transcontinental migration). I'm less familiar with wintering birds on either coast, so when I found this Red Knot
on the beach in Santa Monica, California, in January 2005, I was at first uncertain as to its identity. Note the bird's distinct supercillial
line, dark throat, and barred flanks.
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