IDENTIFICATION

VOCALISATIONS

The typical call given while foraging is a flat or modulated tern-like ‘kerrr’.

DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE

Most records are from the intertidal mudflats of Deep Bay and adjacent roosting areas of Mai Po NR; there is only one record on commercial fish ponds. Elsewhere, up to two birds have been recorded on nine occasions at coastal localities at Cape D’Aguilar (during a tropical storm), Castle Peak, Sha Tau Kok, the former airport at Kai Tak, Shui Hau, Tung Ping Chau and Sai Kung. In addition, migrating birds have been seen in flight over the current airport at Chek Lap Kok and southern waters, with the highest count being 49 near Po Toi on 27 April 2011.

OCCURRENCE 

As Figure 1 indicates spring passage through HK is relatively early compared to other shorebirds, reaching its peak in the first two weeks of April, with the highest count being 560 on 8 April 2001. Numbers are generally rather low in the last week of April and for much of May, but there appears to be a small influx of presumed first-summer birds in the final week of the month. Deep Bay is not the preferred spring stopover site, which appears to result in most birds making landfall in Hangzhou Bay and the Yangtze River delta (Barter and Wang 1990). Consequently, the greatest numbers generally occur here when strong easterly winds are affecting the region. Rather few birds appear to spend the whole summer in HK as July records have only occurred in two years this century.

Most birds occurring in autumn are juveniles and the first generally appear during the last week of August. Autumn passage continues to the third week of October and peaks in the middle two weeks of September, the highest count being 98 on 17 September 2009.

It seems that birds present in early November remain for the winter. Since the first winter record in 1985-86, counts in this season have gradually increased (Figure 2) with more than 20 birds present in most years. The highest winter count is 112 on 11 February 2016. Based on winter waterbird counts in Deep Bay Sung et al. (2021) concluded that the wintering population increased in the period 1998 to 2017.

This species was first noted in Hong Kong on 21 April 1956 (Walker 1958).

BEHAVIOUR, DIET & FORAGING

Although gregarious when sufficient numbers are present, Great Knots can be surprisingly inconspicuous among other shorebirds. Occasionally flocks are noted calling and flying off on northward migration in the early evening.

RANGE & SYSTEMATICS 

Monotypic. Breeds in relatively small area in the Chukotka peninsula, northeast Siberia and winters coastally in southeast Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia, as well in disjunct sites in India and the Middle East (Van Gils et al. 2020). In China a migrant through the east with large concentrations at Yellow Sea sites, and a winter visitor in small numbers along the southeast coast and on Hainan (Liu and Chen 2020).

CONSERVATION STATUS 

IUCN: ENDANGERED. Population trend decreasing very rapidly due to reclamation of non-breeding stopover grounds and under the assumption that future proposed reclamation projects are executed.