Huahou – lesser knot (or red knot)– Calidris canutus
Photographed feeding on the shallow flats of Waihora (Lake Ellesmere), Canterbury, New Zealand.
Red knots are the second most numerous Arctic wader to reach New Zealand. Between 45,000 and 70,000 reach New Zealand each summer and about 4,000 – 8,000 over winter.
Adult red knots reach New Zealand in September – October from their breeding grounds on the Chukutski Peninsula of eastern Siberia after four to five flights down through eastern Asia and Australia or Irian Jaya. Many juveniles stop in Australia before moving on to New Zealand in their second year.
The return journey from New Zealand starting in March – April is apparently mainly through staging areas in the Gulf of Carpentaria and New Guinea and then on to the coast of China or Korea.
“Red knots in non-breeding plumage are one of the least distinctive waders, which is why lone birds are often mistaken for other invariably much rarer species. Grey above and white below apart from some light barring on the breast and sides, they have some pale barring on the rump and uppertail coverts. The legs range in colour from mustard, as in young birds, to blackish in adults. They are gregarious, roosting and feeding in dense flocks. In breeding plumage, red knots are much more impressive. Their breast and underparts becomes rich red-orange, which in some birds spreads up around the face and head, and their upperpart feathers become grey or blackish with red spots or notches and white tips.
Huahou – lesser knot (or red knot)– Calidris canutus
Photographed feeding on the shallow flats of Waihora (Lake Ellesmere), Canterbury, New Zealand.
Red knots are the second most numerous Arctic wader to reach New Zealand. Between 45,000 and 70,000 reach New Zealand each summer and about 4,000 – 8,000 over winter.
Adult red knots reach New Zealand in September – October from their breeding grounds on the Chukutski Peninsula of eastern Siberia after four to five flights down through eastern Asia and Australia or Irian Jaya. Many juveniles stop in Australia before moving on to New Zealand in their second year.
The return journey from New Zealand starting in March – April is apparently mainly through staging areas in the Gulf of Carpentaria and New Guinea and then on to the coast of China or Korea.
“Red knots in non-breeding plumage are one of the least distinctive waders, which is why lone birds are often mistaken for other invariably much rarer species. Grey above and white below apart from some light barring on the breast and sides, they have some pale barring on the rump and uppertail coverts. The legs range in colour from mustard, as in young birds, to blackish in adults. They are gregarious, roosting and feeding in dense flocks. In breeding plumage, red knots are much more impressive. Their breast and underparts becomes rich red-orange, which in some birds spreads up around the face and head, and their upperpart feathers become grey or blackish with red spots or notches and white tips.