Figure 130. Distribution of 28 Bar-tailed Godwits accepted through 2003, all coastal and only four south of Monterey Bay.

 

Figure 131. This first-fall Bar-tailed Godwit (left) was photographed on 24 August 1989 at Pescadero Marsh, San Mateo County. Relative to the two Marbled Godwits, note the Bar-tailed’s shorter legs, bold supercilium, and more solidly dark scapulars (1989-109; Albert Ghiorso).

 

Figure 223. California’s vagrant Bar-tailed Godwits typically associate with Marbled Godwits. This photograph, taken on 15 November 1981 at Coronado, San Diego County, shows well the Bar-tailed’s (left) shorter legs, bolder supercilium, and more solidly dark upperparts; the bird’s relatively small size and short bill indicate a male (1981-091; Larry Sansone).

 

Figure 222. As of 9 September 1997—the date of this photograph—the Bar-tailed (left) and Hudsonian (right) Godwits had been recorded only a combined 37 times in California, so one may ponder the long odds of capturing this image of these two first-fall birds at the Eel River Wildlife Area in Humboldt County (1998-029, 1997-148; Sean McAllister).

 

 

 

 

 

 

BAR-TAILED GODWIT Limosa lapponica (Linnaeus, 1758)

Accepted: 28 (55%)	Treated in Appendix H: yes
Not accepted: 23	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 11	Large color images: see Figures

This shorebird’s nominate subspecies, L. l. lapponica, breeds in foothills across northern Eurasia and is replaced on Siberia’s northeastern coast by L. l. menzbieri (Portenko 1936). A third subspecies, L. l. baueri, breeds on the northern and western coasts of Alaska. The taxonomic status of small populations that nest in Russia’s Anadyr lowlands and southern Chukotskiy Peninsula—bordering the northern Bering Sea between menzbieri and baueri—is uncertain (Engelmoer and Roselaar 1998, Tomkovich and Serra 1999, McCaffery and Gill 2001). Subspecies lapponica (sensu stricto) winters in coastal areas primarily between the British Isles and northwestern Africa. If lapponica is considered to include the taxonomically uncertain birds mentioned previously, its winter range extends to South Africa (Hockey et al. in press). Subspecies menzbieri winters primarily in northwestern Australia, but also in New Zealand (Higgins and Davies 1996) and apparently in eastern Africa (Hockey et al. in press). Subspecies baueri undertakes what may be the longest nonstop migration of any bird—more than 6,800 miles for some individuals—across the Pacific Ocean to wintering grounds in New Zealand and eastern Australia (Cramp and Simmons 1983, Gill et al. 2005). Some members of baueri breeding in the arctic, however, may migrate down the coast of Asia (McCaffery and Gill 2001). In spring, northbound baueri is believed to stage in central eastern Asia before continuing on to Alaska (McCaffery and Gill 2001). Along the coast north of California, baueri is rare but regular in fall and casual in spring. Known or likely baueri have been recorded twice in southern Yukon, once in northern Northwest Territories, and once in northwestern Baja California; two eastern reports of baueri both come from Massachusetts (Veit and Petersen 1993, NAB 58:342). Nominate lapponica occurs casually along the Atlantic coast of North America, with one record also from southern Quebec and two from Florida’s Gulf coast.

The first Bar-tailed Godwit found in California, a year-old female in worn winter plumage that was undergoing extensive body molt, remained in Arcata, Humboldt County, from 11 to 17 July 1968 (Gerstenberg and Harris 1970, Roberson 1993). Most records (24 of 28) come from Monterey County northward (Figure 130). All but two have involved apparent fall migrants (11 July–30 November; Figure 129), and 16 of 23 fall migrants of known age have been young birds, proportions that fit the broader pattern of Pacific coast records summarized by Radamaker and Ludden (1993). See also Appendix H. Birds in formative or basic plumage have appeared in late fall, and one successfully overwintered in Culver City, Los Angeles County, 11 February–2 March 1976. The sole record of a spring vagrant refers to a female in alternate plumage present 3–5 June 1984 near Crescent City in Del Norte County. The single California specimen involves baueri, and detailed descriptions and photographs suggest that most records pertain to this taxon. Two records involve birds with mostly white rumps that exhibited other marks typical of menzbieri or lapponica (sensu lato): a first-fall bird present on 20 September 1988 at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County and a male in alternate plumage found on 30 August 1990 at Pt. Mugu in Ventura County (see Patten and Erickson 1994).