Great Knot at Manawatu Estuary

[philbattley]

Txt just in from Sav a minute or two ago about a GREAT KNOT in partial breeding plumage at the Manawatu Estuary right now. High tide is not for another hour, so anyone local could yet bunk off work and see it this arvo...

Phil

[Jan]

Tut, tut, Phil, what a suggestion and it's not even Friday!

[philbattley]

My employer is always on our cases to decrease our leave balance, so I was simply talking about people taking time LEGITIMATELY off work to go birding... As If I would ever condone anything inappropriate!

Phil

[sav]

Thanks to Phil for getting the news out so quickly - I also sent txts to all those close enough to give it a go today (I think!?).
The bird will be very easy to find if it sticks around - it has a very dark, almost black, breast and huge black heart-shaped spots on the flanks as well as being a bit bigger than the biggest Red Knots and having a long droopy bill.
Today, as the tide was coming in , it was feeding avidly with a small group of Red Knot - bahaviour that suggests it was newly arived (?), since all the other shorebirds were just resting. It was at the edge of the water where the bollards go across the sand.

[Brent Stephenson]

Bird is here right now - 1600 on Wed 2/11.
Cheers,

[craigsteed]

The Great Knot was present this afternoon, I was down there from about 4.30-6.00pm. It was high tide at the time and the bird was with roosting godwits and knots on the house side of the spit. 4 Gull-billed Terns made a quick appearance also. I have attached a photo of the knot with a red knot and a few godwits for comparison - though Sav's description made finding the bird pretty straight forward. A very welcome visitor to the estuary.

(76.54 KiB) Viewed 8004 times

[sav]

Still present today at around high tide. Last seen by me at about 1800, Duncan Watson and Paul Gibson were still there. No GBTerns seen today.....

[ledzep]

Thanks to Sav for notifying us about the bird. Good views today, hopefully it will stay around for a while. Seems to be happy with the 40+ Lesser Knots, and getting vocal at times. It's call is quite distinct from the other knots.

(62.59 KiB) Viewed 7936 times

(93.23 KiB) Viewed 7936 times

[ledzep]

Short video segment where you can hear the Great Knot calling.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB9JlOkq3Xc[/youtube]

[ian smith]

Drove over from Hawkes Bay with Wayne Twydle this morning but, despite a couple of hours searching among the Red Knots present, we could not locate the Great Knot. Possibly moved on to another shorebird location?

Ian