Bar-tailed Godwit - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Ragna

Limosa lapponica

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.

Similar Species

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

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.

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.

Taxonomy

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

Some authorities show 4 subspecies^[2].

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

Habitat

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

Behaviour

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

Diet

The diet includes worms, snails and insects.

Breeding

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

Vocalisation

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

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.
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

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Bar-tailed Godwit. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Bar-tailed_Godwit

External Links

Search for photos of Bar-tailed Godwit in the gallery