# Bar-tailed godwit (*Limosa lapponica*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/bar-tailed-godwit  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), also called the barwit, is a bird in the family Scolopacidae and the order Charadriiformes. It is a small, migratory bird of wetland habitat with an adult body mass of 291.6 g, up to 354 g, and a wingspan of 73 cm. It is a carnivore classed as an aquatic predator, and it forages terrestrially. The IUCN lists it as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category, and its geographic range covers 1,469,000 km².

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 291.6 g – 354 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 73 cm |
| Lifespan | 11 years |
| Diet | Aquatic predator |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 33.1 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 20.8 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 4 |
| Age at maturity | 24 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Near Threatened (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Charadriiformes
- family: Scolopacidae
- genus: Limosa
- species: *Limosa lapponica* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms: *Limosa foxii*, *Limosa lapponica anadyrensis*, *Limosa lapponica novaezealandiae*, *Limosa rufa*, *Limosa rufa*, *Limosa rufa*, *Limosa uropygialis*, *Scolopax aegocephala*, *Totanus gregarius*, *Tringa gregaria*

## Common questions

### What kind of animal is the bar-tailed godwit?

The bar-tailed godwit is a bird in the family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes. It is a migratory species of wetland habitat.

### How heavy is a bar-tailed godwit?

An adult Bar-tailed godwit weighs 291.6 g, with values up to 354 g reported. Its wingspan is 73 cm.

### What does the bar-tailed godwit eat?

The bar-tailed godwit is a carnivore in the diet category of aquatic predator.

### Is the bar-tailed godwit endangered?

No. The IUCN lists the bar-tailed godwit as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category.

### How long does a bar-tailed godwit live?

The bar-tailed godwit has a lifespan of 10.96 years, with values up to 33.08 years reported.

### How many eggs does the bar-tailed godwit lay?

The bar-tailed godwit lays 4 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year. Incubation lasts 20.75 days, and it reaches sexual maturity at 2 years.

### Who named the bar-tailed godwit?

The bar-tailed godwit, Limosa lapponica, was named by (Linnaeus, 1758).

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/bar-tailed-godwit