A Year in the life of the Great Knot The Great Knot is the second most abundant migratory shorebird in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, with an estimated total population of 380,000 birds. About 95 per cent of the population spend the non-breeding season in northern Australia, particularly in northwestern Western Australia, the Gulf of Carpentaria and the north coast of Arnhem Land.
In February-March Great Knot begin to put on fat in preparation for the northward journey to their breeding grounds. They depart in late March-early April, after increasing their weight by up to 70 per cent. About five days later, after 7000 km of non-stop flight, they land on the coast of the Yellow Sea, especially the west coast of South Korea. By the middle of May, most have relocated to the northernmost intertidal areas of the Yellow Sea that have thawed after the northern winter. These mudflats are critical feeding areas for Great Knot about to depart on the final leg of their migration - to the mountain tundra breeding areas in far north-eastern Siberia.
The remainder of their journey is over areas mostly covered with ice and snow. If the breeding areas are still snow-covered when they arrive, the birds will have to rely on their remaining fat reserves until food becomes available with the thaw.
The birds pair and nest in late May, sharing incubation duties until chicks hatch towards the end of June. Females then depart, leaving the adult male birds to rear the chicks. The breeding grounds are abandoned by early August, as females, then males and finally young birds move to the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk where the once-frozen mudflats have now thawed and provide food to fuel the long journey back to Australia.
There is evidence to suggest that Great Knot fly directly from the Sea of Okhotsk to northern Australia - an amazing non-stop flight of some 9000 km.
Great Knot first arrive on the non-breeding grounds in Australia around mid-August. Large numbers of adults appear towards the end of the month, with the juvenile birds following a month or more later. Then it's a well-earned five months' rest until the cycle starts again the following February.
Life is a race for Great Knot. Interruptions to the tight schedule of fattening in preparation for migratory flights can be caused by loss of feeding habitat or excessive disturbance. Such delays could lead to the birds running out of fuel while attempting a trans-oceanic crossing, or an Ang at the breeding grounds too late to take advantage of the very brief arctic summer. Perhaps the greatest dangers come on northwards migration, where the birds face a diminishing number of potential feeding sites in the Yellow Sea as mudflats
Great Knot in breeding plumage, Roebuck Bay, northwestern Australia. Red Knots and Great Knots feeding. The wetlands surrounding the Yellow Sea are critical feeding grounds for Australia's migratory waders en route to and from their arctic breeding areas.
