Looking back at holiday video I found this fellow taken in February south of Perth on a different visit to a previous thread of mine. Is this Great knot or Knot? Any help greatly appreciated.
I think the black streaking on breast and flanks rather than greyish chevrons are much better for Great Knot than Red Knot.
Yes could be. I initially thought was Great Knot but couldn't find any images with a bill that short.
Actually, checking Hayman, suggests that Great Knot wing tips much longer than tail. If that is what we're seeing in photo 1 then it must be Great Knot.
I think this is Red Knot. Suggest bill's too short for Great, bird doesn't have barrel-chested appearance and there's not a clear demarcation of breast from belly. Also, although there's overlap, I think supercilium is normally more pronounced on Red Knot (as here).
Agree with all of this. Also, Great Knot tends to have a different upperpart pattern, with dark shaft streaks and pale fringes to the mantle and scapulars.
Red Knot for me.
What do you think about wing length (my second comment)?
I looked through ebird red knot pics for one with the spots/streaks underneath. I couldn't find one with exactly this pattern but some were vaguely similar if less marked
What do you think about wing length (my second comment)?
This is a Red Knot, as John mentions above, as are the birds in the two older threads from the same area (likely the same bird as it's fairly distinctive).
Is there any evidence that this is a particularly useful feature? A quick search through images of both species suggests the difference is marginal with much overlap, and I've not seen or heard it used previously?
And wing tips projectling slightly beyond tail-tip on this bird . . . inconclusive!See Hayman et al Shorebirds plate 73: says against "adult non-breeding": "wings and tail fall roughly level" and "wings projecting noticeably beyond tail-tip" for red and great respectively
Just had a thought! There seem to be 3 possible sub-species of Red Knot that winter in Australasia....can anyone help me with that for my bird? I would be very grateful for any help on this.
Two sub-species
Calidris canutus piersmai and Calidris canutus rogersi. The former are slightly smaller in size and turn a darker brick red cf to a more apricot colour in the latter. There are several other differences in breeding plumage ( but once birds become worn/moult, the differences become negligible).
In Western Australia during the non-breeding season it is more likely to be C c piersmai. (C c rogersi tend to spend the winter on the East coast.)
http://www.birdskorea.org/Habitats/Yellow-Sea/China/Downloads/Birding-Asia-Red-Knot.pdf
Subspecies piersmai surely was named by Pavel Tomkovich in honour of Theunis Piersma's work on Red Knot...? Given the recent 'renaming' controversy, will this also be a target...?
MJB