Bar-tailed Godwit

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Bar-tailed Godwit Conservation status: Least concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Scolopacidae Genus: Limosa Species: L. lapponica
Binomial name
Limosa lapponica (Linnaeus, 1758)

The Bar-tailed Godwit, Limosa lapponica, is a large shorebird. It is a relatively short-legged member of the godwit genus.

Adults have blue-grey legs and a very long dark bill with a slight upward curve and pink at the tip. The neck, breast and belly are unstreaked brick red in breeding plumage, off white in winter. The back is mottled grey.

Their breeding habitat is arctic Asia and western Alaska on open tundra. They nest on the ground, usually in short vegetation.

They migrate in flocks to coastal western Europe, Africa, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Stray birds from Europe and Asia occasionally appear on both North American coasts. The Bar-tailed Godwit is the holder of the longest non-stop flight known for any bird, 11,000 km from Alaska to New Zealand (BTO News 258: 3, 2005).

These birds forage by probing on mudflats or in marshes. In short vegetation, they may pick up insects by sight. They mainly eat insects and crustaceans, but also eat parts of aquatic plants.

They are distinguished from Black-tailed Godwit by their barred, not black, tail, and lack of white wingbars. The most similar species is the rare Asiatic Dowitcher.

The Bar-tailed Godwit is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

[edit] References

• BirdLife International (2004). Limosa lapponica. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern