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Red Knot

Calidris canutus

Near Threatened (IUCN Red List)Sandpipers and Allies
Red Knot, photographed by Chuck Homler d/b/a Focus On Wildlife

Photo: Chuck Homler d/b/a Focus On Wildlife · Wikimedia · CC-BY-SA 4.0 (licence)

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Call and song

About the Red Knot

Stocky, medium-sized shorebird with relatively short bill and legs. Combination of shape, overall color, and bill size usually distinctive. Beautiful breeding plumage shows entirely salmon-orange underparts and silvery wings with intricate patterning. Nonbreeding is plain gray with pale underparts and a white eyebrow; juvenile similar but with scaly pattern on wings. Usually shows dark barring on flanks. Legs are dull greenish or gray. Widespread and fairly common, breeding on high Arctic tundra and wintering on coastlines around the globe, as far south as Tierra del Fuego. Most numerous on beaches and mudflats; less common inland. Occurs in flocks, often mixed with other shorebirds. Compare with larger, lankier, longer-billed Great Knot in Asia and Australia. Feeds on a variety of small invertebrates; West Atlantic population reliant on horseshoe crab eggs during spring migration.

Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made

Where it has been recorded

Recorded in 164 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.

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