Bar-tailed Godwit Migration Featuring Nils Warnock, PhD. During spring and summer, adult Bar-tailed godwits have dark brown and grey backs and brick-red heads, necks and underparts. It has dull white underwings, and a long, slightly upturned bill. Adult birds have blue-grey legs and a slightly upturned bi-colored bill, pink at the base and black towards the tip. He explained “all sorts of odd weather patterns” in the northern Pacific affected the birds’ migration last month. Australasian bar-tailed godwits ex emplify the migration strat- egy of relying on only a few sites to refuel and making remark- able movements that cover 10 000 km and span hemispheres. More than 7,000 miles. [Wind and calls of Bar-tailed Godwits] Right now, a Bar-tailed Godwit is out over the Pacific Ocean making an eight-day, non-stop flight from Alaska to New Zealand. Bar-tailed godwits' bills are noticeably upcurved. Every September about 80,000 of them fly back to New Zealand. They forage by walking slowly and probing deep in the mud with their long, sensitive bills. The Limosa lapponica is a wading bird that breeds in the Arctic coasts and tundra of northern Asia, Scandinavia, and Alaska.The birds migrate to warmer tropical and temperature regions as far as Australia during winter. Its migration includes the longest known non-stop flight of any bird and also the longest journey without pausing to feed by any animal. Big, noisy, and cinnamon-colored, it is conspicuous on its tundra nesting grounds. At all times of year, a bar-tailed godwit has a streaky back. When in orangey breeding plumage, a black-tailed godwit's belly has black stripes - a bar-tailed's is plain. When they fly, Bar-tailed godwits have a barred tail, and a white wedge on the rump and back; their feet only just stick out past their tail. The Bar-tailed Godwit is mainly mottled brown above and lighter and more uniform buff below. This is BirdNote. They hold the record of performing the longest non-stop migration and the longest migration without feeding among all … Bar-tailed godwits take flight off the Miranda coast. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica. In Washington, they are usually seen singly or in flocks with Marbled Godwits. No rest. Range-wide, Bar-tailed Godwits are typically found in large flocks during migration and winter. In winter, they are streaky-grey above and white below. Interview by Todd Peterson. Thousands of bar tailed godwits have arrived back at feeding spots across New Zealand after an 11,000km migration from Alaska for spring and summer. In its grey-brown, non-breeding plumage, a black-tailed godwit has plain back feathers. No turning back. The female has a longer bill and can forage in deeper water than the male. The Bar-tailed godwit is a large wading bird. As the name suggests, the white tail is barred with brown. 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