How does a godwit adapt?

1. Why are godwits so efficient at flying?
2. What is the bar-tailed godwits habitat?
3. How do godwits navigate?
4. Why do bar-tailed godwit migrate?
5. Which bird can fly longest?
6. What kind of bird is a godwit?
7. What do godwits eat in Alaska?
8. How did the godwit get its name?
9. How fast can a godwit fly?
10. Why do godwits migrate to New Zealand?
11. What do godwits look like?
12. Where does the godwit migrate to?
13. What has endangered the bar-tailed godwit?
14. What do black tailed godwit eat?

Why are godwits so efficient at flying?

Godwits fly extraordinary distances yet they aren't particularly different from other migrating birds. ... Structurally, they have a wing shape designed for fast, efficient long-distance flight. Their feathers are very sleek so that the wind can pass over as smoothly as possible.

What is the bar-tailed godwits habitat?

Typical habitat

The Bar-tailed Godwit is found mainly in coastal habitats such as large intertidal sandflats, banks, mudflats, estuaries, inlets, harbours, coastal lagoons and bays. It is found often around beds of seagrass and, sometimes, in nearby saltmarsh.

How do godwits navigate?

It is believed that the Bar-tailed godwits rely mostly on a sun-compass to navigate their journey from Alaska to New Zealand, the longest non-stop migration known, taking about one week. The godwits fly to the Alaskan tundra to breed, probably because of its abundant food supply (clams) and lack of predators.

Why do bar-tailed godwit migrate?

Bar-tailed godwits nesting in Alaska (L. l. baueri) travel all the way to Australia and New Zealand. They undertake the longest non-stop migrations of any bird, and to fuel this carry the greatest fat loads of any migratory bird so far studied, reducing the size of their digestive organs to do so.

Which bird can fly longest?

The bar-tailed godwit holds the record for longest nonstop flight. It travels 6,800 miles (11,000 km) from Alaska to New Zealand without any layovers.

What kind of bird is a godwit?

godwit, any of four species of large, long-billed shorebirds of the genus Limosa, family Scolopacidae, named for its whistling call. Godwits are generally reddish brown in summer and grayish in winter; all nest in the Northern Hemisphere. The black-tailed godwit (L.

What do godwits eat in Alaska?

On non-breeding grounds bar-tailed godwits mainly eat polychaetes (probably over 70% of diet) but also small bivalves and crustaceans. They also forage in wet pasture for terrestrial invertebrates.

How did the godwit get its name?

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. The name Godwit originates in Old English with god meaning good, and wit coming from wihte, meaning creature.

How fast can a godwit fly?

The bar-tailed godwit set off from south-west Alaska on 16 September and arrived in a bay near Auckland 11 days later, having flown at speeds of up to 55mph.

Why do godwits migrate to New Zealand?

To Prince Godwits migrate because it is too cold to winter over in Alaska. ... The southbound migration is done in one flight. Over 11000 km taking about 8 days. When they arrive in NZ they have lost over half their body weight and are exhausted.

What do godwits look like?

The Bar-tailed Godwit is mainly mottled brown above and lighter and more uniform buff below. It has dull white underwings, and a long, slightly upturned bill. As the name suggests, the white tail is barred with brown. This is the non-breeding plumage of the Bar-tailed Godwit and is the main phase seen in Australia.

Where does the godwit migrate to?

Bar-tailed Godwits spend the Austral summer in New Zealand and Australia and each year they complete an epic journey from the Southern Hemisphere to the Yellow Sea, then Alaska, and then back again. Every September about 80,000 of them fly back to New Zealand.

What has endangered the bar-tailed godwit?

In large part, the observed decline in Bar-tailed Godwit (Western Alaskan) numbers across Australia stems from ongoing loss of intertidal mudflat habitat at key migration staging sites in the Yellow Sea.

What do black tailed godwit eat?

They mainly eat invertebrates, but also aquatic plants in winter and on migration. In the breeding season, prey includes beetles, flies, grasshoppers, dragonflies, mayflies, caterpillars, annelid worms and molluscs. Occasionally, fish eggs, frogspawn and tadpoles are eaten.