Rob Robinson

This large sandpiper, with a brick-red body in summer, has two distinct populations visiting Europe. Nominate subspecies canutus breeds in Taymyr, C Siberia, and winters in Africa, while islandica breeds in Greenland and the Canadian high Arctic, and winters in W Europe. The species is globally listed as Near Threatened, but canutus populations have declined in the recent decades. Trends in islandica numbers are uncertain.

Season of assessment

W

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		268000-325000,296000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Red Knot

The interpretation of encounters relies on a close knowledge of the wintering strategies of the subspecies identified from plumage and biometrics. There are almost no Siberian recoveries to document the breeding grounds of canutus, although they are ringed and recovered in large numbers while moving NE-SW within Europe, especially between the Baltic, the Wadden and the North Seas. Similarly, there are few encounters showing movement to W Africa. Islandica are mainly encountered in W and NW Europe. In summer, islandica wintering in Europe are recorded in Greenland and high-arctic Canada.

Recoveries by Condition for Red Knot

Before 1961 recoveries were scarce with very few found alive (2%) and over 73% of all recoveries were of shot birds. By contrast, only 4% of recoveries are of dead/sick/wounded birds since 1991, due to huge efforts in ringing and colour-ringing since 2007.

Annual Movements for Red Knot

Siberian canutus winter mainly on the Banc d’Arguin in Mauritania and stage in the Bay of Biscay and the Wadden Sea in spring (Leyrer et al. 2009), while islandica winter around the N sea. Published data on multiple-tracked rufa show they leave the Arctic in three waves: females mid-Jul, males about two weeks later, and juveniles in  late Aug (Loring et al. 2018) - it seems likely that canutus and islandica follow the same pattern. Juveniles are encountered in S Scandinavia and the European wintering range in Aug, and juveniles wintering  in W Africa arrive anout a month after the adults (Bocher et al. 2011). In W France, the first islandica arrive for winter while canutus are still staging on the same sites en route to Africa (Bocher et al. 2011).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Red Knot

Red Knot ringed in NW Europe are found there throughout the year and in Iceland, Greenland and arctic Canada May-Oct. Islandica stage in Iceland and N Norway in spring, return to the Wash and Wadden Sea to moult in autumn, then move to wintering sites in the British Isles and the atlantic coast.  Unfortunately, there are no recoveries from the Siberian breeding grounds to document the timing of presence there. In the Bay of Biscay, analysis of isotopes from feathers show that adult canutus are present in Aug and early Sep (Bocher et al. 2011), while islandica arrive later and are mostly juveniles.

Frédéric Jiguet

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Bocher, P., Quaintenne, G., Robin, F., Delaporte, P.2011 . Origins and age structure of Red Knot Calidris canutus staging and wintering on the Atlantic coast of France. Journal of Ornithology 153 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-011-0702-5) : 103–114
Leyrer, J., Bocher, P., Robin, F., Delaporte, P., Goulevent, C., Joyeux, E., Meunier, F., Piersma, T.2009 . Northward migration of Afro–Siberian Knots Calidris canutus canutus: high variability in Red Knot numbers visiting staging sites on the French Atlantic coast, 1979–2009. Wader Study Group Bulletin 116: 145–151
Loring, P.H., McLaren, J.D., Smith, P.A., Niles, L.J., Koch, S.L., Goyert, H.F., Bai, H.2018 . Tracking movements of threatened migratory rufa Red Knots in U.S. Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Waters. US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Sterling, VA

Back to Analysis