Red Knot
Bécasseau maubèche · Kanoet
The red knot is a sturdy, rotund sandpiper with a short, straight bill. In winter plumage it is discreetly grey and white; in breeding plumage it is rusty red on the breast and belly. It is one of the greatest travellers among waders: some knots cover around 15,000 kilometres each year, from the tundra of the far north to southern Africa or South America, sometimes flying more than 6,000 kilometres in a single stretch. On mudflats and beaches it searches in dense flocks for small molluscs, which it swallows whole. In the Vendée it is seen mainly on migration and in winter.
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