Red Knot

Calidris canutus

Migrates 9,000 miles each way fueled by horseshoe crab eggs. Your message rides one of the longest commutes alive.

Population: estimated 891,000-979,000 mature individuals globally (~900,000, per Wetlands International data cited in the 2018 IUCN/BirdLife assessment), declining at roughly 25% over three generations
Habitat: Breeds on high Arctic tundra and Arctic Cordillera; non-breeding/migration habitat is coastal mudflats, tidal flats, sandy beaches, and estuaries worldwide
Fun fact: Red Knots time their northbound migration to a precise stopover at Delaware Bay to gorge on horseshoe crab eggs, refueling for the final Arctic-bound leg of a round-trip migration that can exceed 14,000 miles a year.
Range: Circumpolar Arctic breeder (Alaska across the Arctic to Greenland and northern Russia); six subspecies migrate to winter along coastlines nearly worldwide, from northwestern Europe and West Africa to southern South America (Tierra del Fuego), and Australia/New Zealand
Diet: Arthropods, insect larvae, and some plant material on Arctic breeding grounds; hard-shelled marine invertebrates (bivalves, mussels, gastropods, small crabs, marine worms) during migration and winter, notably gorging on horseshoe crab eggs at Delaware Bay stopovers, which support an estimated 50-80% of migrating C. c. rufa each spring
Size: 0.25 m
Wingspan: 0.5 m
Lifespan: 27 years

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