WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is moving to protect the red knot, a robin-sized shorebird known for its 10,000-mile migration from South America to the Arctic.
The Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday it is proposing the bird be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Officials say rising sea levels and disappearing habitat along the East Coast are taking a toll on the rosy-breasted bird, which makes refueling stops on Cape Cod and in Delaware Bay.
Red knot populations have dropped by about 75 percent in Delaware Bay since the 1980s, a result of shrinking habitat and a drastic decline in the region’s horseshoe crab population. Crab eggs are a key part of the birds’ diet, which also includes mussels and clams.
The red knot is already listed as endangered by New Jersey and would join the piping plover as East Coast shorebirds protected under the act.
Shorebird specialists have identified 15 other Atlantic Flyway shorebirds that warrant attention, including the American oyster catcher, lesser yellowlegs, and whimbrel.
The once-common coastal species are declining due to climate change, coastal development, and hunting, as well as oil spills and diminishing food sources, the agency said.
Dan Ashe, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, called the red knot “an extraordinary bird that each year migrates thousands of miles from the Arctic to the tip of South America and back.” Like many shorebirds, the red knot “is vulnerable to climate and other environmental changes,” Ashe said, noting that steep population declines have occurred in recent years, with much of the decline taking place in the past decade.
More than 100,000 red knots once were common in Delaware Bay, which separates New Jersey from Delaware, but populations have dwindled to about 25,000.
The red knot was one of many species harmed by Hurricane Sandy, although officials said the storm played little or no role in the decision to list the bird as threatened.
Altered storm patterns due to climate change may contribute to the threat faced by the red knot, Walsh said.
Under the Endangered Species Act, plants and animals declared threatened are expected to become endangered in the foreseeable future. Endangered means they are in danger of extinction. The law prohibits a person without a permit from killing, shooting, hunting, pursuing, harassing, capturing, or engaging in other activities deemed harmful to the endangered or threatened species.
The proposal to list the red knot as threatened will probably be finalized next year.