Bar-tailed Godwit, Limosa lapponica


Bar-tailed Godwit

The pair of Bar-tailed Godwits pictured here were spotted at the edge of the tundra on the Bering Sea side of the Council Road shortly after it heads out of Nome east along the Alaska coast. My fellow photographers and I, Alaska bird photography novices, had our introduction to tundra-crawling as we squirmed on our bellies with bulky equipment to get close enough for these pictures. North American Bar-tailed Godwits nest in northern Alaska, and then undertake what may be the longest non-stop migration of any of the world's birds to their wintering grounds in Australia and New Zealand. They are only rarely seen in North America outside of Alaska.


Bar-tailed Godwit, female, 5/30/11,


Bar-tailed Godwit


Bar-tailed Godwit,