#0638 · 🐦 birds
Bar-tailed Godwit
🇳🇱 Rosse grutto ·Limosa lapponica
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The bar-tailed godwit ( Limosa lapponica ) is a large wader in the family Scolopacidae. The genus name Limosa is from Latin and means "muddy", from limus , "mud". The specific lapponica refers to Lapland. The English term "godwit" was first recorded in about 1416–7 and is believed to imitate the bird's call.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 384 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 17,799 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Weighs only about 354 g.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Bar-tailed Godwit
- Nederlands
- Rosse grutto
- scientific name
- Limosa lapponica
- class
- Aves
- order
- Charadriiformes
- family
- Scolopacidae
- IUCN Red List
- NT · near threatened
- sightings in NL
- 384
- sightings in Europe
- 5,646
- sightings worldwide
- 17,799
- GBIF records in NL
- 81,526
- weight
- 354 g
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: gevoelig. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Scolopacidae
#0570 📷 10Common Redshank
🇳🇱 Tureluur
Tringa totanus
LC 👀 1.9k in NL
#0574 📷 10Black-tailed Godwit
🇳🇱 Grutto
Limosa limosa
NT 👀 1.6k in NL
#0583 📷 8Ruddy Turnstone
🇳🇱 Steenloper
Arenaria interpres
NT 👀 1.3k in NL
#0586 📷 10Eurasian Curlew
🇳🇱 Wulp
Numenius arquata
NT 👀 1.2k in NL
#0599 📷 8Sanderling
🇳🇱 Drieteenstrandloper
Calidris alba
LC 👀 914 in NL
#0602 📷 8Ruff
🇳🇱 Kemphaan
Calidris pugnax
LC 👀 848 in NL
#0615 📷 8Common Snipe
🇳🇱 Watersnip
Gallinago gallinago
LC 👀 582 in NL
#0623 📷 10Common Sandpiper
🇳🇱 Oeverloper
Actitis hypoleucos
LC 👀 481 in NL
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 3951, Wikidata Q18864, GBIF 2481681, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.