5% of profits support Endangered & Threatened Species.
Each year, they can travel more than 9,000 miles from Tierra Del Fuego in South America to the Canadian Arctic- and BACK that same year in the fall.
COLOR PALETTE SAMPLED FROM IMAGES OF THE RUFA RED KNOT:
I have been preparing to travel to my home state of Wisconsin to see my family this summer and I became curious what species were on Wisconsin's Threatened and Endangered List , come to find out, due to bird migration there are a handful of species that are represented on both lists, like the Piping Plover, the Whooping Crane and this beauty- the Rufa Red Knot. At first I imagined that the Red Knot migrated from the Texas Coast to The Great Lakes... then I learned they fly much more than that...
To the moon! The Rufa Red Knot's migration literally made my jaw drop. Each year, they can travel more than 9,000 miles from Tierra Del Fuego in South America to the Canadian Arctic- and BACK that same year in the fall. There is even one famed (& tagged) bird nicknamed Moonbird. Researchers estimated that throughout its (at least)19 years, Moonbird traveled farther than the distance from Earth to the Moon.
The following comes directly from the USFish & Wildlife site:
"Large flocks of rufa red knots arrive at stopover areas along the Delaware Bay and the U.S. Atlantic coast each spring, with many of the birds flying directly from northern Brazil. Spring migration is timed to coincide with the spawning season for the horseshoe crab, whose eggs provide a rich, easily digestible food source. Because it provides abundant horseshoe crab eggs, Delaware Bay is the single most important spring stopover habitat, supporting an estimated 50 to 80 percent of all migrating rufa red knots each year.
"Rufa red knot numbers in Tierra del Fuego (winter) and Delaware Bay (spring) declined about 75 percent from the 1980s to the 2000s. The smaller populations that remain now face many hurdles to recovery, including sea level rise; coastal development; shoreline stabilization; dredging; reduced food availability at stopover areas; disturbance by vehicles, people, dogs, aircraft, and boats; and climate change.
Road to recovery
The horseshoe crab harvest is now managed specifically for the protection of the rufa red knot. Knot populations appear to have stabilized in recent years, though at low levels. Listing of the rufa red knot in 2015 brought new protections. Some threats, like climate change, cannot be directly addressed under the ESA. But by limiting other threats – like horseshoe crab overharvest and human disturbance – the Service and our partners are giving the rufa red knot its best shot to adapt and cope with a changing world.
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5% of the profits from these products go to Threatened & Endangered Species.
THREATENED TEXAS SERIES: There are 148 Threatened Species in Texas. Each palette & species is unique. I have sampled colors from images of actual Texas Threatened Species and created original art inspired by each group. 5% of the profits from this series enthusiastically goes to help Threatened & Endangered Species.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
So often I wonder what I can do to help our world- one easy thing I have found is to write my US house Rep. and ask them to support The Recovering America's Wildlife Act RAWA Find out more at https://www.txwildlifealliance.org/or if you aren't in Texas, https://ournatureusa.com/
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