Limosa lapponica
Silhouette: Alexandre Vong · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica) is a large and strongly migratory wader in the family Scolopacidae, which feeds on bristle-worms and shellfish on coastal mudflats and estuaries. It has distinctive red breeding plumage, long legs, and a long upturned bill. Bar-tailed godwits breed on Arctic coasts and tundra from Scandinavia to Alaska, and overwinter on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of Australia and New Zealand. The migration of the subspecies Limosa lapponica baueri across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand is the longest known non-stop flight of any bird, and also the longest journey without pausing to feed by any animal. The round-trip migration for this subspecies is over 29,000 km (18,020 mi).
The bar-tailed godwit was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Scolopax limosa. It is now placed with three other godwits in the genus Limosa that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The genus name Limosa is from Latin and means "muddy", from limus, "mud", referring to its preferred habitat. The specific name lapponica... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Cape Range | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Abel Tasman National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 5 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Rottnest Island | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 11 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 12 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 13 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 14 | Wilsons Promontory National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 15 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 16 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 17 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 18 | Rakiura National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 19 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 20 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 21 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ōtorohanga Kiwi House | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bar-tailed Godwit sighting in Abu Dhabi on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 129th most-seen of the 159 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bar-tailed Godwit in Abu Dhabi on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bar-tailed Godwit sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
21st of 36
Of the 36 cities where we can rate Bar-tailed Godwit sightings, Abu Dhabi ranks 21st at under 5%. The best odds are in Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 40%), Auckland (New Zealand, about 20%) and Dammam (Saudi Arabia, about 10%).
Same family: Scolopacidae
The closest relatives of the Bar-tailed Godwit that you can see in Abu Dhabi (family Scolopacidae, Sandpipers and Allies) are Common Sandpiper (about 30%), Whimbrel (about 30%) and Eurasian Curlew (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bar-tailed Godwit is recorded against all the birds logged in Abu Dhabi (12 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
