With a population estimate of 21 700 individuals calidris canutus roselaari is the smallest of six known red knot populations globally and one of the least abundant calidrid sandpipers in north america

This federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Fish and Wildlife Coordination and Assistance program (CFDA 15.664) provides $370,000 to Pronatura Noroeste, a non-profit conservation organization, to expand the assessment of the conservation status of the Pacific Red Knot (Calidris canutus roselaari) at key non-breeding sites in northwest Mexico. The primary objectives are to estimate the population size and trend, annual survival, and migratory movements of this vulnerable shorebird species. This builds upon the organization's ongoing monitoring and research efforts in collaboration with U.S. federal agencies along the Pacific Americas Flyway. The grant will fund comprehensive surveys and data collection at the Guerrero Negro Wetland Complex and Upper Gulf of California, two sites of hemispheric importance for the Pacific Red Knot. This work aims to address critical knowledge gaps about the population status and ecology of this small and declining subspecies, which is listed as endangered in Mexico and a species of greatest conservation need in the U.S.

The pacific red knot was identified as a focal species in the pacific americas shorebird conservation strategy because of uncertainty about its population status. This significant knowledge GAP was identified by c. C. Roselaari experts in a 2015 workshop that examined threats to this population at breeding alaska russia migration mexico to washington and wintering areas. The 2015 shorebirds of conservation concern report listed c. C. Roselaari as a species of greatest concern . The c. C. Roselaari population is also designated as endangered in mexico threatened in canada a bird of conservation concern at the continental scale in the USA and a species of greatest conservation need in alaska and washington. The population has declined in recent decades and its high site fidelity range wide and small population size make IT vulnerable to a diversity of environmental impacts. Furthermore recent analyses indicate that c. C. Roselaari once recognized as a single population consists of two genetically distinguishable populations that breed in alaska and wrangel island respectively. There is little information about how these populations may differ in total size migration strategy non breeding range and general ecology. The U.S. Fish and wildlife service the U.S. Geological survey the washington department of fish and wildlife and collaborators recently initiated a project with the primary goal of assessing the conservation status of c. C. Roselaari at two spring stopover sites of hemispheric importance willapa BAY and grays harbor washington. Primary objectives include estimating population size and trend annual survival and migratory movements. Here we propose to expand these objectives to additional non breeding sites of hemispheric importance in NW mexico the guerrero negro wetland complex and the upper gulf of california.