Limosa lapponica
Silhouette: Alexandre Vong · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bar-tailed Godwit sighting in Rottnest Island on a given day, based on 25 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 52nd most-seen of the 81 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bar-tailed Godwit in Rottnest Island on a given day, against under 5% in April to September, the lowest months. Those are among Rottnest Island's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 120 mm in June.
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.
7th of 21
Of the 21 parks where we can rate Bar-tailed Godwit sightings, Rottnest Island ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 40%), Wadden Sea National Park (Germany, about 30%) and Cape Range (Australia, about 20%).
Same family: Scolopacidae
The closest relatives of the Bar-tailed Godwit that you can see in Rottnest Island (family Scolopacidae, Sandpipers and Allies) are Red-necked Stint (about 60%), Ruddy Turnstone (about 50%) and Sanderling (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 Rottnest Island (25 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
