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Great Knot

 

Calidris tenuirostris

IUCN status: Endangered

Flyway population 400 000 (2022 estimate)

Photo

Great Knot. Non breeding. Queens Esplanade, Thorneside. Peter Harms

Photo

Great Knot. Breeding. Robert Bush. Moreton Bay

Identification

Medium sized wader, with a medium bill and legs.  Grey plumage with dark chevrons on its flanks.

Plumage

Non-breeding:  The back of this bird has a scaly grey appearance from the nape through to the rump, and the wings.  This is because the grey feathers are margined with white.  The chin and throat are white.  There is an indistinct pale supercilium.  The sides of the neck, breast and flanks are marked with “arrow-head” shaped, dull black coloured chevrons.  The belly and vent are white.  The medium, slightly down curved bill is black and the legs grey.

The top of the head and nape are streaked black and white, whilst the rest of the top of the bird is black the feathers here are edged in white and chestnut.  The supercilium is less noticeable.  The sides of the neck, breast and flanks are heavily marked with black sometimes giving the appearance of a completely black front.

Juvenile:  Very similar to the adult, maybe darker upperparts.

 

Confusing Species

Red Knot:  This bird is smaller, the bill about the length of the head whilst the Great Knot’s bill is one and a half times the length of the head.  The markings on the flanks are less bulky.  There is no mistaking the two in breeding plumage.

Distribution

 

The Great Knot breeds in NE Siberia. Non-breedeing grounds are primarily in SE Asia and Australia, where it can be found on intertidal mudflats, inlets, bays, estuaries and lagoons.

Monthly reports of Great Knot in Queensland

Monthly sightings

Best sites in Queensland to see Great Knot

Population trends:

Number of shorebird areas used in the trend analysis: 21

Generation time: 6.4 years (Bird et al. 2020)

Percent change in abundance over three generations: -32.41 (95%CI: -69.20, 48.48)

Percent change in abundance between 1993 and 2021: -23.26 (95%CI: -66.82, 72.18) Percent annual change in abundance between 1993 and 2021: -0.94 (95%CI: -3.86, 1.96)

Percent annual change in abundance between 1993 and 2012: 0.24 (95%CI: -4.83, 5.26)

Percent annual change in abundance between 2012 and 2021: -5.62 (95%CI: -14.64, 5.73)

Change in annual growth rate between 1993-2012 and 2012-2021: -0.060 (95%CI: -0.18, 0.068)

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

Yearly trends in Queensland

International and Nationally Important sites in Queensland

Significant Bird Area Year Peak Count International National
SE Gulf of Carpentaria 2013 28979 Yes Yes
Townsville Region 2010 4500 Yes Yes
Burdekin River Delta 2019 4120 Yes Yes
Repulse Bay 2011 4047 Yes Yes
Cleveland Bay 2012 4000 Yes Yes
Bowling Green bay 2012 2850 No Yes
Great Sandy Strait 2023 2445 No Yes
Keppel Sands 2010 2220 No Yes

Conservation 

EPBC listing:  Vulnerable, Marine, Migratory

Approved conservation advice:

https://bio-prd-naturekit-public-data.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/species_assessments/Calidris_tenuirostris_conservation_advice_10165.pdf

 

References

  1. BirdLife Australia (2023). Great 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/great-knot/ Accessed: April 30, 2026 Time Zone: +10:00
  2. van Gils, J., P. Wiersma, G. M. Kirwan, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.grekno.01
  3. 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)
  4. 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.
  5. Driessen, J., Kidd, L. R., Weller, D. R., Purnell, C., Maguire, G., Jaensch, R., and LeClair, S. M. (2025). Australian National Directory of Important Migratory Shorebird Habitat. Report for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. BirdLife Australia, Melbourne.
  6. https://sproggies63.github.io/birding_apps/