Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) is a large wader with an upturned bill, barred tail and brick-red breeding underparts. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It probes coastal mudflats for worms and shellfish and undertakes exceptionally long nonstop migrations between Arctic breeding and southern wintering grounds. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).