Calidris canutus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	CHARADRIIFORMES	SCOLOPACIDAE

Scientific Name:

Calidris canutus

Species Authority:

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Name/s:

English	–	Knot, Lesser Knot, Red Knot
French	–	Bécasseau maubèche

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Least Concern ver 3.1

Year Assessed:

2009

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s:

Bird, J., Butchart, S.

Justification:
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

History:

2008	–	Least Concern
2004	–	Least Concern

Geographic Range [top]

Countries:	Native: Algeria; Angola; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Aruba; Australia; Austria; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belgium; Belize; Benin; Bermuda; Bolivia; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Bulgaria; Cameroon; Canada; Cayman Islands; Chile; China; Colombia; Congo; Costa Rica; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Czech Republic; Denmark; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; French Guiana; Gabon; Gambia; Germany; Ghana; Greece; Greenland; Grenada; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Hong Kong; Hungary; Iceland; India; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Japan; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Latvia; Liberia; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Malaysia; Martinique; Mauritania; Mexico; Montserrat; Morocco; Myanmar; Namibia; Netherlands; Netherlands Antilles; New Zealand; Nigeria; Norway; Pakistan; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Slovakia; South Africa; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Spain; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Svalbard and Jan Mayen; Sweden; Switzerland; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Togo; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Turkey; Turks and Caicos Islands; Ukraine; United Kingdom; United States; Uruguay; Venezuela; Viet Nam; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Western Sahara Vagrant: Albania; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Botswana; Cape Verde; Croatia; Cyprus; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); Fiji; French Southern Territories (the); Georgia; Gibraltar; Guadeloupe; Guam; Iraq; Jamaica; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Kuwait; Lebanon; Luxembourg; Mali; Malta; Mongolia; Montenegro; Mozambique; Nepal; Oman; Palau; Romania; Saint Martin (French part); Saudi Arabia; Serbia; Slovenia; Somalia; Sudan; Timor-Leste; United Arab Emirates; Yemen; Zambia
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Countries:

Native:

Algeria; Angola; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Aruba; Australia; Austria; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belgium; Belize; Benin; Bermuda; Bolivia; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Bulgaria; Cameroon; Canada; Cayman Islands; Chile; China; Colombia; Congo; Costa Rica; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Czech Republic; Denmark; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; French Guiana; Gabon; Gambia; Germany; Ghana; Greece; Greenland; Grenada; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Hong Kong; Hungary; Iceland; India; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Japan; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Latvia; Liberia; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Malaysia; Martinique; Mauritania; Mexico; Montserrat; Morocco; Myanmar; Namibia; Netherlands; Netherlands Antilles; New Zealand; Nigeria; Norway; Pakistan; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Slovakia; South Africa; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Spain; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Svalbard and Jan Mayen; Sweden; Switzerland; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Togo; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Turkey; Turks and Caicos Islands; Ukraine; United Kingdom; United States; Uruguay; Venezuela; Viet Nam; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Western Sahara

Vagrant:

Albania; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Botswana; Cape Verde; Croatia; Cyprus; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); Fiji; French Southern Territories (the); Georgia; Gibraltar; Guadeloupe; Guam; Iraq; Jamaica; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Kuwait; Lebanon; Luxembourg; Mali; Malta; Mongolia; Montenegro; Mozambique; Nepal; Oman; Palau; Romania; Saint Martin (French part); Saudi Arabia; Serbia; Slovenia; Somalia; Sudan; Timor-Leste; United Arab Emirates; Yemen; Zambia

Range Map:

Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Behaviour This species is a full long-distance migrant that utilises few stopover sites or staging areas¹. The species breeds from June to August² in solitary pairs¹, travelling in flocks on migration² and remaining highly gregarious in winter often foraging in flocks of 300-10,000 individuals¹ at select feeding and roosting sites². Habitat Breeding The species breeds in the high Arctic¹ on dry upland tundra including weathered sandstone ridges, upland areas with scattered willows Salix spp., Dryas spp. and poppy, moist marshy slopes and flats in foothills, well-drained slopes hummocked with Dryas spp.³ and upland glacial gravel close to streams or ponds¹. Non-breeding Outside of the breeding season the species is strictly coastal, frequenting tidal mudflats or sandflats, sandy beaches of sheltered coasts, rocky shelves, bays, lagoons and harbours, occasionally also oceanic beaches and saltmarshes¹. Diet Breeding During the breeding season the species's diet consists predominantly of insects (mainly adult and larval Diptera, Lepidoptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera and bees) as well as spiders, small crustaceans, snails and worms¹. When it first arrives on the breeding grounds however, the species is dependant upon vegetation (including the seeds of sedges, horsetails Equisetum spp. and grass shoots) owing to the initial lack of insect prey³. Non-breeding Outside of the breeding season the species takes intertidal invertebrates such as bivalve and gastropod molluscs, crustaceans¹ (e.g. horseshoe crab Limulus spp. eggs)⁸, annelid worms and insects, rarely also taking fish and seeds¹. Breeding site The nest is an open shallow depression⁴ either positioned on hummocks surrounded by mud and water or on stony or gravelly ground³ on open vegetated tundra or stone ridges¹.
Systems:	Terrestrial; Freshwater; Marine

Habitat and Ecology:

Behaviour This species is a full long-distance migrant that utilises few stopover sites or staging areas¹. The species breeds from June to August² in solitary pairs¹, travelling in flocks on migration² and remaining highly gregarious in winter often foraging in flocks of 300-10,000 individuals¹ at select feeding and roosting sites². Habitat Breeding The species breeds in the high Arctic¹ on dry upland tundra including weathered sandstone ridges, upland areas with scattered willows Salix spp., Dryas spp. and poppy, moist marshy slopes and flats in foothills, well-drained slopes hummocked with Dryas spp.³ and upland glacial gravel close to streams or ponds¹. Non-breeding Outside of the breeding season the species is strictly coastal, frequenting tidal mudflats or sandflats, sandy beaches of sheltered coasts, rocky shelves, bays, lagoons and harbours, occasionally also oceanic beaches and saltmarshes¹. Diet Breeding During the breeding season the species's diet consists predominantly of insects (mainly adult and larval Diptera, Lepidoptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera and bees) as well as spiders, small crustaceans, snails and worms¹. When it first arrives on the breeding grounds however, the species is dependant upon vegetation (including the seeds of sedges, horsetails Equisetum spp. and grass shoots) owing to the initial lack of insect prey³. Non-breeding Outside of the breeding season the species takes intertidal invertebrates such as bivalve and gastropod molluscs, crustaceans¹ (e.g. horseshoe crab Limulus spp. eggs)⁸, annelid worms and insects, rarely also taking fish and seeds¹. Breeding site The nest is an open shallow depression⁴ either positioned on hummocks surrounded by mud and water or on stony or gravelly ground³ on open vegetated tundra or stone ridges¹.

Systems:

Terrestrial; Freshwater; Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	The species is vulnerable to extensive land reclamation projects that encroach upon staging areas in Western Europe¹, and is threatened by the over-exploitation of shellfish^{1, 6} which leads directly and indirectly to reductions in prey availability¹. The species also suffers from disturbance in the non-breeding season as a result of tourism⁶, foot-traffic on beaches⁷, recreational activities and over-flying aircraft, which together reduce the size of available foraging areas¹. It is also potentially threatened by industrial pollution and oil exploration (Argentina)⁶, and is susceptible to avian influenza so may be threatened by future outbreaks of the virus⁵. Utilisation The species is hunted illegally in New Zealand¹.

Major Threat(s):

The species is vulnerable to extensive land reclamation projects that encroach upon staging areas in Western Europe¹, and is threatened by the over-exploitation of shellfish^{1, 6} which leads directly and indirectly to reductions in prey availability¹. The species also suffers from disturbance in the non-breeding season as a result of tourism⁶, foot-traffic on beaches⁷, recreational activities and over-flying aircraft, which together reduce the size of available foraging areas¹. It is also potentially threatened by industrial pollution and oil exploration (Argentina)⁶, and is susceptible to avian influenza so may be threatened by future outbreaks of the virus⁵. Utilisation The species is hunted illegally in New Zealand¹.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2009. Calidris canutus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 07 February 2012.
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