Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica baueri)

Most birds wintering in New Zealand are of this large dark-backed race L. l. baueri which breeds in Alaska. Studies of radio-tracked birds have found that this population undergoes the longest known non-stop migration of any bird. Apparently they take advantage of major pressure ridges to sling-shot across the Pacific, covering distances of up to 11,000 km (7,200 statute miles) in nine days (Gill et al 2009). They lose up to half their body weight during these marathon non-stop migrations. Sadly, the future of these extraordinary migrants has been imperiled by reclamation projects in the Yellow Sea destroying key migration staging areas for shorebirds in East Asia. This godwit's conservation status was upgraded from "least concern" in 2012 to "near threatened" in 2015 by IUCN as their population continues to plummet.