Ardea
Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union

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Dick W.J.A., Pienkowski M.W., Walter M. & Minton C.D.T. (1976) Distribution and geographical origins of Knot Calidris canutus wintering in Europe and Africa. ARDEA 64 (1-2): 22-47
Recent information on winter distribution and numbers of the Knot in Europe and Africa is summarised. Data on the bill lengths, ringing recoveries and visible migration are used to identify the breeding populations of Siberia and Greenland/N. Canada, and to describe their migrations and wintering areas, correcting earlier reports. Short-billed birds from the Nearctic winter in Western Europe and longer-billed birds, probably from Siberia, move to north-west and southern Africa. There appears to be little overlap in the winter quarters although populations from both breeding areas may occur together in Western Europe during migration periods, particularly in autumn. Some effects of weather on the migration of Siberian birds are briefly considered, and attention is drawn to the possibility that Knots follow great circle routes, these being the shortest distances between any two points on the earth's surface.


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