Right now, thousands of Red Knots are journeying from a remote beach in Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America, to their breeding grounds in the Canadian Artic 9,000 miles away. They just spent the winter on a 30-mile stretch of windswept beach known as Bahía Lomas, which is now home to a new nature sanctuary. Yesterday, Carolina Schmidt, Chile’s Minister of the Environment, announced that Bahía Lomas will be protected as an official nature sanctuary. This declaration establishes the protection of more than 200 square-miles as part of Chile’s National Wetland Protection Plan. Bahía Lomas hosts almost 50 percent of the Rufa subspecies of Red Knots, making it the most critical wintering ground for this species in South America. A globally Important Bird Area, Bahía Lomas is also the winter home for the Hudsonian Godwit, among other long distance migrants. Red Knot migration is a fascinating example of how many species in the coastal ecosystem rely on each...