Calidris canutus
The Red Knot is a stocky, medium-sized shorebird, renowned for its extraordinary migratory feats and vibrant breeding plumage. Measuring 23-26 cm (9-10 in) in length with a wingspan of 57-64 cm (22-25 in) and weighing 100-200 g (3.5-7 oz), it sports a distinctive brick-red face, breast, and belly during its Arctic breeding season, contrasting sharply with its mottled grey-brown back and black bill. In non-breeding plumage, it transforms into a plainer, pale grey above and whitish below, makin...
Red Knots primarily inhabit coastal mudflats, sandy beaches, and intertidal zones during migration and winter, transitioning to high Arctic tundra for breeding, typically at low elevations.
Red Knots primarily feed on small marine invertebrates, including bivalves (e.g., Macoma clams), marine worms, and crustaceans, with horseshoe crab eggs being a crucial high-energy food source during their spring migration.
Red Knots are highly gregarious birds, forming massive, tightly packed flocks during migration and wintering, often roosting shoulder-to-shoulder on high ground or barrier beaches above the tide line. They are largely diurnal foragers but engage in nocturnal migratory flights. Their foraging stra...
The Red Knot boasts a truly circumpolar breeding range, inhabiting the high Arctic tundras of Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Siberia. During the non-breeding season, these intrepid migrants disperse across an immense global range, wintering on coastal mudflats and sandy beaches in South Amer...
Near Threatened
- Red Knots undertake one of the longest migratory journeys of any bird, with some individuals traveling over 15,000 km (9,300 miles) one way from the Arctic to the tip of South America. - The subspecies Calidris canutus rufa relies heavily on the eggs of spawning Horseshoe Crabs in Delaware Bay ...