Bar-tailed Godwit

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Limosa lapponica

Photo by Ragna

Alternate plumage; photo by postcardcv

Identification

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

Distribution

• 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.

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.

Habitat

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

Behaviour

Vocalisation

<flashmp3>Limosa lapponica (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program

External Links

Search for photos of Bar-tailed Godwit in the gallery

• View more images of this species on the ABID
• View more images of this species on Orientalbirdimages