Male and female birds are alike. This wader is a thick-set, rounded bird that is greyish in colour. It has chevron marked flanks with short greenish-grey legs. The bill is short which is approximately the length of the bird’s head. The Red Knot is bigger and plumper than Curlew Sandpipers and their bill is straighter and thicker.

This species breeds in the Northern Hemisphere summer (our winter) in the high Arctic tundra with a circumpolar breeding range. It is thought birds from southern Africa likely originate from Siberia , particularly the Taimyr Peninsula. The non-breeding grounds include the western Palearctic, western and southern Africa, southeast Asia to Australasia. It is also found in central and South America. and western Europe to southeast Asia and Australasia. In southern Africa they are found along the entire coast and particularly common on the West Coast.

These non-breeding Palearctic migrants are present in southern Africa from September/October to April the following year. Some birds overwinter. These common migrants are mainly found on the West Coast from Langebaan Lagoon to Namibia. The Red Knot’s distribution of the south and east coastal of South Africa are patchy. In South Africa Langebaan Lagoon (2150) and Botrivier vlei (225) contain the largest concentration of birds in the country.

The Red Knot is a coastal species that is found in coastal lagoons and embayments with extensive mud-and sandflats. Less often in estuaries and coastal wetlands. They are often seen associating with Curlew Sandpiper.

A wader species that specialises in feeding on bivalves such as the dwarf triangular clam, but will also eat other molluscs such as snails and polychaetes.

This wader is preyed on by the Peregrine Falcon.