Red Knot

How to find it

Plan around the main passage, mid-March to late April, and keep late August to October as a second chance. Start at river mouths and sandy or pebbly beaches. Scan mudflats for feeding birds, then check salt flats and salt-pond dikes for resting ones. Pick out pale grey shorebirds and wait for the white wing bar and pale rump patch when they fly. Listen for a soft knutt from flocks passing overhead.

How to recognise it

Look for these marks on any pale shorebird you suspect might be a knot. They describe the species across its whole range, not only Costa Rica.

A narrow white wing bar, in every plumage.

A pale rump patch, in every plumage.

A pale grey look from a distance in non-breeding plumage.

These are the marks to lean on when a flock lifts off. On a bright beach a non-breeding bird can read as a plain pale shape until the wing bar shows in flight.

What it sounds like

Recording: Dan MacNeal, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

In Costa Rica the Red Knot feeds on mudflats and rests on salt flats and salt-pond dikes. Because feeding birds rarely call when alone, you will often find them by sight rather than by sound.

Where Red Knots are common, which is not the case in Costa Rica, they may roost in very dense flocks, standing shoulder to shoulder on the sand.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica the Red Knot uses sandy or pebbly beaches, especially near river mouths. It feeds on mudflats and rests on salt flats and salt-pond dikes.

All of these habitats are coastal, so think sea level rather than the highlands or the forest interior. The birds on the Pacific side are the ones most linked with Costa Rica.

When to see it

Migrating Red Knots pass through Costa Rica in two windows. The main one runs from mid-March to late April, and the other is from late August to October.

Similar birds

The Great Knot looks similar in shape, but the Red Knot is smaller and less bulky and has a shorter bill. Their breeding plumages differ markedly. The Great Knot is not a Costa Rica bird, so it should not complicate an identification here.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Another Spanish name listed for the Red Knot in Costa Rica is Correlimos Pechirrayado, alongside the official Correlimos Grande. Correlimos Grande is also a local name for the Greater Yellowlegs, so ask which bird a guide means.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican bird list gives the Red Knot the status M, meaning a migrant, and it is described as an uncommon migrant along the Pacific coast.