Red Knot

Voice

Quiet for such an abundant bird: a low, grunting knut and, in flight, a soft disyllabic kwik-ik. A rising flock produces mainly the rush of thousands of wings. The song is given only on the tundra, so it is not heard in Europe.

Identification

Dumpy, short-legged calidrid with a thick neck, a short straight black bill and olive-green legs. In breeding plumage brick red from face to belly, with black and rufous scalloped upperparts. In winter plain grey with a pale supercilium, neatly scaled flanks and a pale, finely barred rump; a narrow white wing bar shows in flight.

Confusion species

Dunlin is smaller, with a longer, slightly decurved bill and a black belly patch in summer. Bar-tailed Godwit is far bigger and longer-billed. Grey Plover has black armpits and an obvious plover profile. The real difficulty is the vagrant Great Knot: bulkier, longer-billed and with a heavily spotted breast.

Habitat

Extensive sandy and muddy tidal flats rich in cockles and small bivalves, plus beaches and estuaries. Roosts at high tide on saltmarsh, sandbanks and dykes, almost always in tightly packed flocks.

Range and movements

Breeds on high Arctic tundra in Greenland, Canada and Siberia. The Wadden Sea is a crucial refuelling and wintering area; Siberian birds continue to West Africa, while Greenland and Canadian birds winter in western Europe. In Spain it is much scarcer, mainly in Atlantic estuaries and the Bay of Cádiz.

• Resident
• Breeding (summer)
• Winter
• Passage
• Migration direction
• dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

Where and when to look

August, September or May on the Wadden Sea: reach a high-tide roost such as the Richel, the Boschplaat or the Balgzand two to three hours before high water and wait for the birds to be pushed in. May birds in full rufous breeding plumage are the finest.

Conservation status

Near Threatened globally. Knots are vulnerable because they depend on a handful of very specific staging sites; mechanical shellfishing, disturbance at high-tide roosts and changing conditions on the Arctic breeding grounds as the climate warms are the main threats.