Great Knot

Calidris tenuirostris (Horsfield, 1821)

26–30 cmLength61 cmWingspan192 gWeight

This is one of the largest Calidris sandpipers, with the face, throat and breast covered in black markings in the breeding season.

Most records: Australia, China, Thailand

Looks like Red Knot

Endangered

How to identify

Field marks

Face, throat and breast covered in black markings in the breeding season
Upperparts mottled gray; scapulars rufous in the breeding season
Legs and feet short and dark
Bill moderately long, slender and dark

Similar species

Red Knot

Red Knot has a distinctly reddish face, throat and breast in breeding plumage; in other plumages, Great Knot is larger, with a longer bill and a darker breast.

Where and when it's recorded

Most records: Australia, China, Thailand

Great Knot has been recorded at 400 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 35 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

Australia China Thailand Japan Malaysia South Korea Philippines Iran

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The great knot (Calidris tenuirostris) is a medium-sized wader. It is one of the largest species in the genus Calidris. It is a migratory bird which breeds in eastern Siberia, Russia, and flies to southern Asia and Australia in the northern winter.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Great Knot?

The Great Knot is about 26–30 cm long, with a wingspan of 61 cm and weighs around 192 g.

Where does the Great Knot live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: low Arctic and subarctic montane tundra: northeastern Siberia from Yakutsk east to Anadyr Peninsula. It is most often recorded in Australia, China and Thailand.