Great Knot

The great knot is a robust, medium-sized wader and one of the largest members of Calidris. Adults measure twenty-six to thirty centimetres, span fifty-six to sixty-six centimetres and weigh 115–261 grams. The legs and moderately long, slender bill are dark. Breeding birds are mottled grey above, show a rufous scapular band and carry dense black spotting across the face, throat and breast. Winter plumage is much plainer grey. Compared with a red knot, it is larger, longer-billed and deeper-chested, with more streaking above. (Wikipedia, general species account)

Great knots breed on tundra in northeastern Siberia, nesting on the ground and laying around four eggs in a scrape. They migrate strongly to southern Asian and Australian coasts for the northern winter, sometimes gathering in enormous flocks. On mudflats and beaches they either probe the substrate or pick visible prey from the surface, eating mainly molluscs and insects. Small numbers occur west to Pakistan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates in winter, while low numbers reach western Alaska in summer. The species has also appeared as a vagrant far outside this principal route. (Wikipedia, general species account)