Georgia DNR, Wildlife Resources Division
Another migrating red knot has been tracked flying through a hurricane.
On Aug. 15, the shorebird known by its leg band code LN5 beelined south across the Atlantic and into Erin as the storm grew into a hurricane near the Lesser Antilles.
LN5’s flying slowed to as low as 20 mph compared to a 38 mph-average before plunging into Erin, according to Fletcher Smith, a senior wildlife biologist with DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section.
But the red knot made it through the storm’s strongest side, and apparently just in time. Erin exploded into a category 5 hurricane the next day.
LN5 landed in Suriname the evening of Aug. 16, completing a five-day, non-stop Arctic-to-South America flight of more than 3,800 miles. At last check the bird was in Coppenamemonding, a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site on the coast of the South American country.
Processing LN5 in May on the South Carolina coast (S.C. DNR)
Like last year’s tale of *H7 (“Red Knot Reveals Species’ Pluck, Peril”), this storm survivor is part of a multipartner project tracking red knot populations that stopover in South Carolina and Georgia. In the process, the project is mapping the amazing and perilous migrations these threatened birds make twice a year.
As of Monday, LN5 was still transmitting location data from Coppenamemonding reserve in Suriname.
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