About this species
The Red Knot (Calidris canutus) is a stocky, medium-sized sandpiper whose rich rufous breeding plumage makes it one of the most recognisable Arctic shorebirds. It breeds on dry, barren tundra across the high Arctic.
Several subspecies undertake extraordinary migrations of 10,000–15,000 km between Arctic breeding grounds and distant wintering coasts. The subspecies C. c. piersmai uses the Central Asian Flyway, wintering on the coasts of north-western Australia via staging areas in the Yellow Sea and South Asia.
The species has suffered significant declines in several flyway populations, driven by loss of horseshoe crab eggs at staging sites, coastal habitat degradation, and disturbance.
