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Red Knot

 

Calidris canutus

IUCN status: Near threatened

Flyway population 130 000 (2022 estimate)

Red Knot. Robert Bush.

Identification

Medium sized wader, with medium sized bill and legs.

Plumage

Non-breeding:   The chin, throat and breast are white streaked with grey, the rest of the belly and vent are just white.  The flanks are white but have distinctive dark grey chevrons. The crown and neck are grey streaked with black.  The rest of the back is grey, with the individual feathers being edged with white.  There is a white supercilium.  The bill is straight, black and about the same length as the head.  The legs are greenish-green.
Breeding:  The mantle, shoulders and wing coverts streaked chestnut with black and white.  The chin, throat, sides of the neck and rest of the underparts a chestnut-red.  The vent is white.  The overall appearance is a chestnut bird with streaking of black and white.
Juvenile:  Similar to the non-breeding plumage but browner and more heavily marked.  The fresh plumage has a buff wash.

 

Confusing Species

Great Knot:  This bird is larger than the Red Knot, but the side markings are larger and the bill is slightly longer.  The rump is white in the Great Knot.  The breeding plumages are different.
Curlew Sandpiper:  This bird is smaller than the Red Knot, but the non-breeding and breeding plumages can be confusing until the down-curved bill of this bird is seen.

Distribution

 

Breeds on tundra and upland glacial gravel in Eurasia and North America. Subspecies rogersi breeds in the Chukotka region 0f Siberia and migrates to eastern Australia and New Zealand. Subspecies piersmai breeds in the New Siberian Islands and migrates to north-western Australia.

Monthly reports of Red Knot in Queensland

Monthly sightings

Best sites in Queensland to see Red Knot

Yearly trends in Queensland

Population trends:

Number of shorebird areas used in the trend analysis: 14

Generation time: 6.9 years (Bird et al. 2020)

Percent change in abundance over three generations: 6.11 (95%CI: -63.93, 207.40)

Percent change in abundance between 1993 and 2021: -7.78 (95%CI: -68.38, 160.90)

Percent annual change in abundance between 1993 and 2021: -0.29 (95%CI: -4.03, 3.48)

Percent annual change in abundance between 1993 and 2012: -1.85 (95%CI: -7.85, 4.02)

Percent annual change in abundance between 2012 and 2021: 1.38 (95%CI: -10.81, 18.24)

Change in annual growth rate between 1993-2012 and 2012-2021: 0.032 (95%CI: -0.12, 0.20)

(Data from Rogers,Fuller and Amano 2023 – see ref 4)

International and Nationally Important sites in Queensland

Significant Bird Area Year Peak Count International National
SE Gulf of Carpentaria 2013 7649 Yes Yes
Moreton Bay 2019 1545 Yes Yes
Pumicestone Passage 2016 992 No Yes
Central Qld Narrows 2016 835 No Yes
Great Sandy Strait 2015 810 No Yes
Burdekin River Delta 2019 650 No Yes
Broadsound 2011 603 No Yes
Cleveland Bay 2010 350 No Yes

Conservation 

EPBC listing:  Vulnerable, Marine, Migratory

Approved conservation advice:

https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/consultation-document-calidris-canutus.pdf

 

References

  1. eBird. 2021. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Available:  http://www.ebird.org (Accessed: Date 12/4/2026)
  2. Rogers A, Fuller RA & Amano T (2023) Australia’s migratory shorebirds: Trends and prospects. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. University of Queensland, Brisbane.
  3. Geering, Andrew, Lindsay Agnew, and Sandra Harding, eds. Shorebirds of Australia. Csiro Publishing, 2007.
  4. BirdLife Australia (2023). Red Knot. [Text before updates sourced from: Marchant, S. et al (eds) 1990-2006 Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds.Volume 1 to 7.] Birdlife Australia. Birdlife Australia. Source: https://hanzab.birdlife.org.au/species/red-knot/ Accessed: April 30, 2026 Time Zone: +10:00
  5. van Swinderen, L., Hansen, B.D., Fuller, R.A., Watkins, D., Rogers, D.I., Clemens, R.S., Newman, M., Woehler, E.J., Weller, D.R. and LeClair, S. (2025). Revision of the East Asian – Australasian Flyway Population Estimates for 37 listed Migratory Shorebird Species. Report for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. BirdLife Australia, Melbourne.
  6. https://sproggies63.github.io/birding_apps/