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Bar-tailed Godwits are medium-sized waders. When seen in Europe, Black-tailed Godwits are usually in eclipse plumage, which is highly cryptic. The head has a brownish cap; the rest of the head, neck and chest is greyish-brown with some lighter streaking. The belly, vent and undertail coverts are creamy. The back and wings are greyish-brown, with light edge lining and darker centre stripes on the wing feathers. The short tail has a bar pattern on the underside. During the breeding season most of the front and the head is chestnut-red. The eyes have dark irises. Bar-tailed Godwits have a very long, dark grey-tipped pinkish, minimally upcurved bill that is about 2-3 times as long as the size of the head. The long legs and the feet are dark-grey.

Twitcher's tip

Compared with Black-tailed Godwits, they have more colour contrast in their non-breeding plumage. During the breeding season their belly is the colour of the front and head.

The correct identification of waders ("shorebirds"), e.g. of the Calidris, Tringa, Actitis etc. or of the Charadrius, Pluvialis and related genera in the field can be quite tricky. We have therefore made an attempt to give some advice HERE.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Bar-tailed Godwit is available HERE .

Bar-tailed Godwits are a highly migratory species. There are three races, all of which breed in subarctic regions. Nominate race "lapponica" breeds from northern Scandinavia eastwards to the Taymyr Peninsula. They migrate South to spend the winters along the West coasts of Europe and Africa, from the British Isles and the Netherlands southwards to South Africa, and also around the Persian Gulf. Race "menzbieri" breeds in north-eastern Asia, from the Taymyr Peninsula eastwards to the Kolyma River delta. They spend the northern winters in South-east Asia and western Australia. The eastern-most race, "baueri", breeds in far north-eastern Asia, to the East of the Kolyma River, and western Alaska; they spend the northern winters in eastern Australia and in New Zealand.

Bird trivia: The Bar-tailed Godwit is the bird with the longest migration of all birds and the animal with the longest non-stop journey without feeding.

In Europe, when not breeding in the far North of Scandinavia or far north-western Russia, Bar-tailed Godwits, race "lapponica", are usually found overwintering along the Atlantic coastal fringe from the German Wattensee southward to about Gibraltar. Apart from one area in Catalunya, Spain, they are not found along the Mediterranean coastline.

Bar-tailed Godwits have a preference for sandbanks and also intertidal wetlands, including mudflats.

Race "lapponica"

Race "baueri"