The migration of Red Knots through Porsangerfjord in spring 2008: a progress report on the Norwegian Knot Project

We report on the results of the Norwegian Knot Project for 2008. The stopover population in Porsangerfjord, N Norway, was estimated at 40,000. Knots arrived earlier than in 2005–2007, from 11 May or earlier to 16 May. Within the study area, the distribution continued to shift towards the north-east. Resighted flagged knots showed a high return rate of 24.1%. Sightings of 55 Porsanger-flagged knots from outside Norway were within the winter range of C. c. islandica. Two sightings of marked knots from Germany showed that departure from there can be as late as 18–19 May: this is consistent with some arrival dates in Porsanger. The mean mass on 18 May was 151.6 g. This was higher than in 2006 or 2007 which can be attributed to the earlier arrival. Mass on 26 May, near departure time was 179.9 g, similar to 2007. On 28 and 30 May 2,473 knots were seen departing towards the west and north-west. Nine Porsanger-flagged knots were recorded in the Tromsø-Balsfjord area approximately 180 km to the south-west of Porsanger, three of which were within-year resightings. There were six sightings approximately 200 km to the east in the Varanger area, five of which were within-year. In 2008, marked birds were seen from Canada (1), France (1), the Netherlands (14) and Germany (2).