Calidris tenuirostris

General description: 

The Great Knot is plump sandpiper with a medium length, stout, straight bill. Individuals are generally grey-brown with dark feathering above, white feathering below and dark brown spots on the foreneck, breast and along the sides. Across the uppertail-coverts is a white wing stripe and band. The bill is black, iris brown and the legs and feet are dark grey to olive green. The species is distinguishable from other Knots by its larger size, darker, more mottled upperparts, streaked crown, more heavily spotted breast and sides, whiter rump and wing-bar and a longer, thicker bill. When breeding in the Northern Hemisphere the grey-brown patterned plumage becomes darker and chestnut spots are visible in the centre of the wings. Individuals call in a double-noted whistle, nyut-nyut.

Conservation status: 

Not Threatened.

Diagnostic description: 

The Great Knot is plump sandpiper with a medium length, stout, straight bill. Individuals are generally grey-brown with dark feathering above, white feathering below and dark brown spots on the foreneck, breast and along the sides. Across the uppertail-coverts is a white wing stripe and band. The bill is black, iris brown and the legs and feet are dark grey to olive green. The species is distinguishable from other Knots by its larger size, darker, more mottled upperparts, streaked crown, more heavily spotted breast and sides, whiter rump and wing-bar and a longer, thicker bill. When breeding in the Northern Hemisphere the grey-brown patterned plumage becomes darker and chestnut spots are visible in the centre of the wings. Individuals call in a double-noted whistle, nyut-nyut.

Behaviour: 

Size: 

260-280mm Wingspan 570-590mm Tail 58-66mm Bill 42-44mm Tarsus 34-36mm Weight 155g

Phylogeny: 

Taxonomy:

    Totanus tenuirostris Horsfield, 1821, Java. In past, genus Calidris was on occasion reserved for present species and C. canutus only. Monotypic. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Distribution: 

Distribution:

    NE Siberia, from Verkhoyansk Mts E to Magadan, Koryak Highlands and S Chukotskiy Peninsula; distribution poorly known. Winters mainly in SE Asia and Australia; also in Arabia, Pakistan, NW & NE India and Bangladesh.
Habitat: 

In Australia, the Great Knot occurs within sheltered, coastal habitats containing large, intertidal mudflats or sandflats, including inlets, bays, harbours, estuaries and lagoons. Individuals have often been recorded on sandy beaches with mudflats nearby, sandy spits and islets and sometimes on exposed reefs or rock platforms.

Trophic strategy: 

The Great Knot forages for food by methodically thrusting its bill deep into the mud to search for invertebrates, including bivalve molluscs, gastropods, polychaete worms and crustaceans. The species has also been reported to eat seeds, berries and insects at its breeding grounds in Siberia.

Reproduction: 

The Great Knot breeds in Siberia and migrates to Australia in large numbers from late August to early September, although juveniles and males may not arrive until October-November.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith