
Godwits
Limosa
The godwits are a group of large, long-billed, long-legged and strongly migratory waders of the bird genus Limosa. Their long bills allow them to probe deeply in the sand for aquatic worms and molluscs. They frequent tidal shorelines, breeding in northern climates in summer and migrating south in winter. In their winter range, they flock together where food is plentiful. A female bar-tailed godwit holds the record for the longest non-stop flight for a land bird.
6 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 4 known species

Black-tailed Godwit
speciesLimosa limosa

Marbled Godwit
speciesLimosa fedoa

Bar-tailed Godwit
speciesLimosa lapponica

Hudsonian Godwit
speciesLimosa haemastica
Limosa haemastica × lapponica
hybridLimosa haemastica × lapponica
Limosa haemastica × limosa
hybridLimosa haemastica × limosa
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Limosa in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 3946.

