Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica (Linnaeus, 1758))

Scientific name: Limosa lapponica (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name: Bar-tailed Godwit
French name: Barge rousse
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Size: Body size: 33 to 42 cm; Weight: 300 to 450 g; Wingspan: 70 to 80 cm. Males are slightly smaller than females.
Habitat: Grassy tundra, steppes and water meadows, marshes. Bays and estuaries in winter.
Food: The Bar-tailed Godwit feeds in shallow water, often at the water limit of the tide, using its long and thin bill. It feeds on crustaceans, molluscs, insects and worms.
Nesting: The nest is located on the ground, among grasses. There are 2 to 4 eggs per brood.
Migration: The Bar-tailed Godwit is a long distance migratory bird. Birds from Siberia migrate to western Africa. Those from northern European regions migrate to western Europe. Birds from Alaska migrate as far as to New Zeeland. One Bar-tailed Godwit holds the record of the longest flight without stop. In 2007, equipped with a satellite transmitter, it made one continuous flight of 10200 km in 9 days from New Zeeland to Alaska. After the breeding season, it made a continuous return flight of 11500 km in 8 days!
Geographic area: Arctic and Subarctic regions of Eurasia and Alaska in summer. Western Europe, western Africa, Australia and New Zeeland.

The Bar-tailed Godwit is a rather large waders with short legs and a long a thin bill, slightly curved upwards.
In nuptial plumage, the male's underside is brick red. The upper side is grey mottled with dark.
The bill is dark with the base of the lower mandible pinkish.
The female is more greyish with a white belly. It can show some pale orange colour on the neck and on the chest.
In winter plumage, the Bar-tailed Godwit is grey-brown and dark striated. The belly is white.
The Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) has longer legs and is slenderer.
No problem to tell it apart in flight with well marked black colour at the tail tip and a white wing bar on the upper side of the wings.
In nuptial plumage, the male is a paler reddish colour with a white belly. Only the tip of the bill is black.