Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Limosa lapponica

Silhouette: Alexandre Vong · PhyloPic

LCNTNear ThreatenedVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Manama

In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%

17 Verified sightings at Manama
3,397 In all 21 parks From 2019 to 2026
September Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Bar-tailed Godwit

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 →

Sounds

Call0:37

Norway · 2026

© bert de bruin · XC1182319 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:51

Sweden · 2025

© Dag Österlund · XC1005464 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Nocturnal flight call0:15

Spain · 2024

© Marcos Prada Arias · XC930213 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 West Coast National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~40%
2 Wadden Sea National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
~30%
3 Cape Range 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
4 Abel Tasman National Park 🇳🇿 New Zealand
~10%
5 Ningaloo Marine Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
6 Noosa National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
7 Rottnest Island 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
8 Snowdonia National Park 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
<5%
9 Doñana National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%
10 iSimangaliso Wetland Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%
11 Royal National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
<5%
12 Garden Route National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%
13 Camargue 🇫🇷 France
<5%
14 Wilsons Promontory National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
<5%
15 Hortobágy National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
<5%
16 Wilpattu National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
<5%
17 Yala National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
<5%
18 Rakiura National Park 🇳🇿 New Zealand
<5%
19 Białowieża National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
<5%
20 Bali Barat National Park 🇮🇩 Indonesia
<5%
21 Table Mountain National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Liverpool 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~40%
2 Auckland 🇳🇿 New Zealand
~20%
3 Dammam 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
~10%
4 Kuwait City 🇰🇼 Kuwait
~10%
5 Manama 🇧🇭 Bahrain
~10%
6 Dublin 🇮🇪 Ireland
~10%
7 Dakar 🇸🇳 Senegal
~10%
8 Maputo 🇲🇿 Mozambique
~10%
9 Karachi 🇵🇰 Pakistan
<5%
10 Sydney 🇦🇺 Australia
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Ōtorohanga Kiwi House 🇳🇿 New Zealand In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Bar-tailed Godwit in Manama?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bar-tailed Godwit sighting in Manama on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 49th most-seen of the 85 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Bar-tailed Godwit in Manama?

September

In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Bar-tailed Godwit in Manama on a given day, against about 10% in October to June, the lowest months. July has too few records to rate.

What time of day is best to see a Bar-tailed Godwit?

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.

Is Manama the best place to see a Bar-tailed Godwit?

5th of 36

Of the 36 cities where we can rate Bar-tailed Godwit sightings, Manama ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 40%), Auckland (New Zealand, about 20%) and Dammam (Saudi Arabia, about 10%).

Which relatives of the Bar-tailed Godwit live in Manama?

Same family: Scolopacidae

The closest relatives of the Bar-tailed Godwit that you can see in Manama (family Scolopacidae, Sandpipers and Allies) are Common Greenshank (about 40%), Common Sandpiper (about 40%) and Common Redshank (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Bar-tailed Godwit sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Bar-tailed Godwit is recorded against all the birds logged in Manama (17 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.

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