Globe › Birds › Bar-tailed godwit
Bar-tailed godwit migration Limosa lapponica
Press ▶ to play the year. Glow: GBIF records per month, adjusted for observer effort. Lines: tracked individuals (Movebank).
| Scientific name | Limosa lapponica |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 73 cm |
| Adult weight | 313 g (male), 354 g (female) |
| IUCN status | Near threatened |
| Records mapped | 640,872 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | 3 birds (Movebank) |
Facts from Wikidata Q18864 (CC0).
When does the bar-tailed godwit arrive in the UK?
Recorded in the UK in every season, so the records do not show one clear arrival date.
Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 69,513 UK records. Weekly counts from the GBIF occurrence search API (country=GB). Dates are read from records, not from a survey, so treat them as a guide.
Migration in the data
640,872 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In East Asia, Australasia and Alaska, the centre of the records (adjusted for observer effort) is furthest north in May (about 22°N) and furthest south in February (about 25°S).
More than half of the effort-adjusted signal there is south of the Equator in: January, February, March, July, October, November, December.
Month by month: centre of records in East Asia, Australasia and Alaska
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 24°S | 82% |
| February | 25°S | 88% |
| March | 18°S | 76% |
| April | 4°N | 47% |
| May | 22°N | 31% |
| June | 15°N | 49% |
| July | 6°N | 56% |
| August | 20°N | 33% |
| September | 7°N | 45% |
| October | 11°S | 67% |
| November | 20°S | 80% |
| December | 22°S | 81% |
Tracked birds
- “6YBWW”: 2 Mar 2013 – 26 Oct 2013, between 69°N and 41°S. Dataset: Lisovski S, Hoye BJ, Conklin JR, Battley PF, Fuller RA, Gosbell KB, Klaassen M, Lee CB, Murray NJ, Bauer S. 2024. Predicting resilience of migratory birds to environmental change. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 121(19):e2311146121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2311146121 https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.327 (CC BY 4.0)
- “6YBWR”: 2 Mar 2013 – 20 Oct 2013, between 68°N and 41°S. Dataset: Lisovski S, Hoye BJ, Conklin JR, Battley PF, Fuller RA, Gosbell KB, Klaassen M, Lee CB, Murray NJ, Bauer S. 2024. Predicting resilience of migratory birds to environmental change. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 121(19):e2311146121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2311146121 https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.327 (CC BY 4.0)
- “6YBRY”: 28 Feb 2013 – 5 Dec 2013, between 63°N and 41°S. Dataset: Lisovski S, Hoye BJ, Conklin JR, Battley PF, Fuller RA, Gosbell KB, Klaassen M, Lee CB, Murray NJ, Bauer S. 2024. Predicting resilience of migratory birds to environmental change. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 121(19):e2311146121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2311146121 https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.327 (CC BY 4.0)
About the bar-tailed godwit
The bar-tailed godwit 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. …
From the Wikipedia article “Bar-tailed godwit” (revision 1373652716), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=2481681&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (22 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.