Red Knot

1. Compact, stocky shape with a straight, medium-length black bill

2. Pale grey above and white below in non-breeding season, with dark flank barring and a white eyebrow

3. Juveniles are browner and show a scaly pattern on the wings

Red Knots are specialized feeders, probing mud and sand for bivalve mollusks, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. They have a muscular gizzard capable of crushing hard-shelled prey, allowing them to swallow mollusks whole and grind them internally. Their migration is among the longest in the bird world, with some individuals flying non-stop between north-eastern China and northern Australia, a distance comparable to crossing the Australian continent. Before migration, they nearly double their body weight to fuel these journeys, and their digestive organs can change size rapidly to adapt to different diets. Red Knots breed on the high Arctic tundra, nesting on open ground during the brief polar summer. They generally arrive in Australia between August-October.

Red Knots are found along Australia’s coasts during the non-breeding season, especially on large, sheltered intertidal mudflats and sandflats in bays, estuaries, and coastal lagoons. They are gregarious, often seen in large flocks that may mix with other shorebirds, especially at high-tide roosts. The north-western coast, Gulf of Carpentaria, and south-eastern Australia are important areas, with two subspecies regularly present: *C. c. piersmai* in the northwest and *C. c. rogersi* in the southeast. Dawn and dusk, as the tide falls, are the best times to observe their feeding behaviour as they probe for prey along the waterline.