Australian distribution. The bar-tailed godwit (both subspecies combined) has been recorded in the coastal areas of all Australian states. It is widespread in the Torres Strait and along the east and south-east coasts of Queensland, NSW and Victoria. In Tasmania, the bar-tailed godwit has mostly been recorded on the south-east coast. In South Australia it has mostly been recorded around coasts from
Lake Alexandrina to Denial Bay. In Western Australia it is widespread around the coast, from Eyre to Derby. Populations have also been recorded in the northern Australia, from Darwin east
to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The bar-tailed godwit is a regular migrant to Christmas Island, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island. It has also been recorded on subantarctic islands such as Macquarie
Island, Snares Islands, Auckland Islands and Campbell Islands. During the non-breeding period, the distribution of L. l. menzbieri is predominantly in the north and north-west of Western Australia and in south-eastern Asia. Global distribution. The bar-tailed godwit (all subspecies combined) has an extremely large global range. For the species, the global extent of occurrence is estimated to be 1,470,000 km2. The subspecies L. l. menzbieri breeds in northern Siberia, Russia between the Khatanga River and the delta of the Kolyma River (Higgins & Davies 1996). This subspecies spends the nonbreeding period mostly in the north of Western Australia, but also in south-east Asia . Migrating birds stage for over one month during both southwards and northwards migration in western and northern parts of the Yellow Sea. The Yalu Jiang coastal wetland supports, on average, at least 19% of the EAAF’s northward-migrating L. l. menzbieri godwits.
Northern Siberian Bar-tailed Godwit |
Limosa lapponica menzbieri
Status: Critically Endangered on the EPBC Act list
Government evidence of impact of climate change:
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Australian Government, Conservation Advice, Limosa lapponica menzbieri
Climate change Global warming and associated changes in sea level are likely to have a long term impact on the breeding; staging and non breeding grounds of migratory shorebirds (Harding et al. 2007).