From Opus

Photo by Ragna

Limosa lapponica

[edit] Identification

In Breeding plumage: belly rufous with no or little barring, and dark bill slightly upturned.
In Non-breeding plumage: back gray with streaking, upturned bill bicolored, and long supercilium extending back past eye.
In Juvenile plumage: back patterned with white and gray, upturned bill bicolored, and long supercilium extending back past eye.

[edit] Similar Species

Black-tailed Godwit, which has a straighter bill; and from Eurasian Curlew and Whimbrel which both have down-curved beaks.

[edit] Distribution

Alternate plumage; photo by postcardcv

• Breeds in northern Palearctic: extreme northern Scandinavia (Norway, Finland, limited in Sweden), Arctic Russia (Kola Peninsula eastwards), and Alaska.
• Migration most active March-April (south to north), and August-October (north to south). Seen regularly en route through the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Atlantic coasts. Rare to find any distance inland.
• Winters to southern Africa and Australasia. A varying concentration of individuals will occur year-round in this non-breeding range.

[edit] Vagrancy

Vagrant north to Svalbard, Iceland and the Faroe Islands; Cyprus and eastern Mediterranean countries; Madeira and the Azores. Casual vagrant in North America on both coasts.

[edit] Taxonomy

Photo by I4ani
Brignogan Plage, Brittany, France, September 2008

Some authorities show 4 subspecies^[2].

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• L. l. lapponica:

• Bar-tailed Godwit (European): Lapland to Taymyr Peninsula; winters to Africa and India

• L. l. menzbieri:

• Northern Siberia; winters South-eastern Asia to coastal Australia, Tasmania

• L. l. baueri:

• Bar-tailed Godwit (Siberian): North-eastern Siberia to western Alaska; winters China to New Zealand

[edit] Habitat

• Coastal estuaries and sheltered sandy shores.
• Arctic breeding habitat is lowland tundra; sometimes in upland areas and among trees.

[edit] Behaviour

Very gregarious in the winter, forming huge flocks with other waders at the water's edge.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes worms, snails and insects.

[edit] Breeding

It nests on the ground, usually in short vegetation, in marshy areas above the tree-line.

[edit] Vocalisation

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Avibase
3. Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds 1966
4. Collins Field Guide 5th Edition
5. Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6

• List of references

[edit] External Links

• Arthur Grosset's Birds