The Red Knot in non-breeding plumage is quite a drab shorebird. Yet in breeding plumage, with its russet head and breast, it is one of North America's most colorful sandpipers. During migration, Red Knots concentrate in huge flocks at traditional staging grounds in both South and North America to fatten up before embarking on one of the longest annual migrations of any bird.

Red Knots breed in extreme northern Alaska, Canada, northern Greenland, and Russia. They winter locally at coastal sites from California and Massachusetts in the U.S., and southward to southern South America, as well as from Europe to Africa, Asia, and Australia.

 

A legend for the range map to the right can be found here.

Red Knot numbers are rapidly decreasing; populations wintering in South America have dropped over 50 percent from the mid-1980s to 2003. The knot is listed by the Fish and Wildlife Service as a Bird of Conservation Concern, and is considered a Continentally Threatened Species. Christmas Bird Count data also show declines. Most recently, it has been listed as a candidate species for the Endangered Species List.

Red Knots were heavily hunted for both market and sport during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Today, their tendency to concentrate at traditional coastal staging sites during migration makes these birds vulnerable to the loss of key resources. Delaware Bay, on the mid-Atlantic Coast, is one such area; here the knots feed on the eggs of spawning horseshoe crabs. An estimated 90 percent of the entire population of the Red Knot subspecies C. c. rufa may be found on the bay in a single day.

 

The food available at this critical area has been greatly diminished by the annual killing of millions of horseshoe crabs to provide bait for American eel and, to a lesser extent, conch fisheries on the mid-Atlantic coast, contributing to the rapid decline in Red Knot populations. Regulatory initiatives to limit the horseshoe crab harvest were implemented in New Jersey and Delaware in the late 1990s, and recently, both states have prohibited the harvesting of horseshoe crabs.

 

Global warming may particularly impact this species, as it is expected to be greatest at polar latitudes, where Red Knots breed.

 

Knots and other shorebirds depend upon using quiet intertidal beach locations as resting sites during higher tides. Chronic human disturbance may limit their ability to gain the fat essential for migration.

 

Keep a safe distance from knots and other shorebirds on beaches—if the birds run or flush, you are too close. Avoid allowing unleashed dogs on these beaches. Sound, effective coastal habitat protection is essential to the knots' well-being.

 

Join beach cleanups in your area. Cutting up and properly discarding monofilament fishing line will prevent Red Knots and other seabirds from becoming entangled in it.

 

Work with regional planners to protect essential shorebird nesting and migration habitats. Opportunities for proactive management through creation of resting and nesting areas may exist with agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers.

 

Don't discard used oil into city sewers. It can end up on the coasts where Red Knots rest and feed; if their feathers become oiled, the birds are no longer waterproof and cannot survive.

 

Use alternatives to pesticides, and dispose of pesticides responsibly. Pesticides can wash into the sea, potentially affecting the Red Knot's reproduction. Learn about healthier pest control at Audubon at Home: http://www.audubon.org/bird/at_home/index.html

 

Make environmentally-friendly seafood choices, which helps protect the marine life that Red Knots depend upon. Learn more at http://seafood.audubon.org/ or http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp

 

For more actions you can take, including Audubon activities, please visit our resources page.

Visit our resources page for more information about this species.

Harrington, B. A. 2001. Red Knot (Calidris canutus). In The Birds of North America, No. 563 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

 

Kaufman, Kenn. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1996

 

Sibley, David Allen. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 2000