Red knot
Calidris canutus (Linnaeus, 1758)
The red knot (Calidris canutus) is a small migratory bird in the family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes. It is an aquatic predator and carnivore of coastal habitats, with a terrestrial foraging lifestyle.
Quick facts about the red knot
Adults weigh from 125.8 to 148 g, with a representative value of 141.9 g, and the wingspan is 50 cm. The IUCN Red List classifies it as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category, and checklists record it in Australia.
- Weight
- 125.8 g – 148 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 50 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 16.1 years – 26.7 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- coastalsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 22 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.94src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2.74 years – 3 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the red knot?
Photos of the red knot
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the red knot live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The red knot is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the red knot?
The red knot or just knot (Calidris canutus) is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is the type species of the genus Calidris. Six subspecies are recognised.
Their diet varies according to season; arthropods and larvae are the preferred food items at the breeding grounds, while various hard-shelled molluscs are consumed at other feeding sites at other times. North American breeders migrate to coastal areas in Europe and South America, while the Eurasian populations winter in Africa, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand. This species forms enormous flocks when not breeding.
From the Wikipedia article “Red knot” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red_knot&oldid=1382047155), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the red knot endangered?
The red knot is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.
How is the red knot classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyScolopacidae
- genusCalidris
- SpeciesCalidris canutus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Erolia canutus, Tringa calidris
Other names and names in other languages (122)
- Common knotEnglish
- KnotEnglish
- Lesser knotEnglish
- Red-breasted sandpiperEnglish
- Robin breastEnglish
- Robin snipeEnglish
- KnoetAfrikaans
- دريجة حمراءArabic
- دريجة الشمالArabic
- دريجة رماديةArabic
- mazaricu gorduAsturian
- Mazaricu FartónAsturian
- Islandiya qumluq cüllütüAzerbaijani
- Ісландскі пясочнікBelarusian
- Пясочнік ісландскіBelarusian
- Ісландскi пясочнiкBelarusian
- Голям брегобегачBulgarian
- Исландски брегобегачBulgarian
- Sourouc'han morlerekBreton
- territ grosCatalan
- jespák rezavýCzech
- pibydd aberWelsh
- pibydd yr aberWelsh
- Pibyddion yr AberWelsh
- Islandsk ryleDanish
- KnuttGerman
- Isländischer StrandläuferGerman
- ΔιπλονεραλλίδιGreek
- ΚοκκινοσκαλίδραGreek
- ruĝa kalidroEsperanto
- Granda kalidroEsperanto
- Playero RojoSpanish
- Correlimos gordoSpanish
- Playero árticoSpanish
- Playero canutoSpanish
- Playero de Pecho RufoSpanish
- Playero gordoSpanish
- Playero PechirrojoSpanish
- Playero rojizoSpanish
- suurrüdi e. suurrislaEstonian
- SuurrislaEstonian
- SuurrüdiEstonian
- Txirri lodiBasque
- تلیله خاکستریPersian
- isosirriFinnish
- ÍslandsgrælingurFaroese
- Bécasseau maubècheFrench
- KanuutNorthern Frisian
- Cnota ruaIrish
- Dos rougegcf
- cnotaScottish Gaelic
- Luatharan gainmhichScottish Gaelic
- Pilro gordoGalician
- Pilro grosoGalician
- Coar ny traieynManx
- Chululu'iGuarani
- MòbèchHaitian Creole
- חופית להקניתHebrew
- חופית להקנית *Hebrew
- Rdasti ŽalarCroatian
- hrđasti žalarCroatian
- sarki partfutóHungarian
- Kedidi merahIndonesian
- raudbrystingurIcelandic
- Rau?brystingurIcelandic
- RauðbrystingurIcelandic
- Piovanello maggioreItalian
- piovanello tridattiloItalian
- コオバシギJapanese
- qajorlakKalaallisut
- Исландия құмдауғыKazakh
- Исландия құмдауығыKazakh
- 붉은가슴도요Korean
- KnutCornish
- islandinis bėgikasLithuanian
- lielais šņibītisLatvian
- HuahouMāori
- ചെമ്പൻ നട്ട്Malayalam
- Girwiel Saqajh QosraMaltese
- Шармаг элсэгMongolian
- Burung Kedidi Dian KecilMalay
- kanoetDutch
- Ijslandse strandloperDutch
- kanoetstrandloperDutch
- polarsnipeNorwegian Nynorsk
- Snepi CòráPapiamento
- Snepi KòráPapiamento
- RouslétePicard
- biegus rdzawyPolish
- رتا ناٹWestern Panjabi
- seixoeiraPortuguese
- maçarico-de-papo-vermelhoPortuguese
- seixoeira-comumPortuguese
- Rivarel grischRomansh
- Fugaci mareRomanian
- fugaciul mareRomanian
- КеркунRussian
- Песочник исландскийRussian
- исландский песочникRussian
- RiddovirošNorthern Sami
- pobrežník hrdzavýSlovak
- veliki prodnikSlovenian
- Gjelëza e madheAlbanian
- PrudnikSerbian
- Велика спруткаSerbian
- Velika sprutkaSerbian
- kustsnäppaSwedish
- Chokowe MwekunduSwahili
- นกน็อตเล็กThai
- buyuk kumkusuTurkish
- büyük kumkuşuTurkish
- kirmizi goguslu kumkusuTurkish
- kırmızı göğüslü kumkuşuTurkish
- Чүгүрүк элезинчиTuvinian
- червоний побережникUkrainian
- Ісландський побережникUkrainian
- Побережник ісландськийUkrainian
- Dẽ lưng nâuVietnamese
- 漂鷸Chinese
- 紅腹濱鷸Chinese
- 紅腹濱鷸〔漂鷸〕Chinese
- 红腹滨鹬Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the red knot
Other species in the same genus Calidris.
Ruff
Calidris pugnax
Sanderling
Calidris alba
Dunlin
Calidris alpina
Little stint
Calidris minuta
Temminck's stint
Calidris temminckii
Curlew sandpiper
Calidris ferruginea
CompareRed knot vs RuffRed knot vs SanderlingRed knot vs DunlinRed knot vs Little stint
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the red knot?
The red knot is a small migratory bird in the family Scolopacidae and the order Charadriiformes.
How heavy is a red knot?
An adult red knot weighs 141.9 g as a representative value, with reported values from 125.8 to 148 g. Its wingspan is 50 cm.
What does the red knot eat?
The red knot is an aquatic predator and a carnivore.
Is the red knot endangered?
No, the red knot is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a red knot live?
The red knot has a lifespan of 16.1 years, with values up to 26.7 years reported by sources.
How many eggs does a red knot lay?
The red knot lays 3.9 eggs per clutch as a representative value, with 1 clutch per year. Incubation lasts 22 days.
Which countries is the red knot recorded in?
Checklists record the red knot in Australia.
Who named the red knot?
The red knot, Calidris canutus, was named by (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Red knot (Calidris canutus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-knot
“Red knot (Calidris canutus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-knot.
@misc{red_knot_2026,
title = {Red knot (Calidris canutus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-knot},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}