The Bar-tailed Godwit

The Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa Lapponica) is a 16 oz bird with the wingspan the size of a bicycle wheel. In some ways it does not look like a particularly spectacular bird, with brown and white plumage and a fairly unremarkable form. It distinguishing physical feature is perhaps has a delicate beak that extends 3-5" or about half the length of its body beyond its head.

But each year, the Bar-tailed Godwit, after having bulked up to nearly twice its weight before lifting off and flying for days at time. For many Bar-tailed Godwits, the non-stop journey takes them from shores of Alaska to those of New Zealand and Australia, a trip of >7,000 miles, longer than that of any other bird and the length of more than 260 marathons linked back to back.

It's hard to fathom what this journey is like for these creatures. I can imagine embarking on a long, seemingly endless journey. I've had my share of long car rides, hikes or bike rides. Getting off into the air, embarking just out of site of everything that's familiar, that seems relatable. But then to keep going and going. I imagine the endless expanse of oceans and clouds the Godwit must see. The sun rises and falls across the strange land they path through for days on end all while gliding ever forward. No stopping, no turning back. Do they feel that sense of fear or doubt when we are out traveling to uncharted territory? Or does they feel entirely normal as natural and simplistic as going on a jog?

For such a creature, what can home mean? Is it in the air on that migratory path? Or is it down on earth in flat marshlands where they make their nests and raise their young?