Ondřej Belfín, Roeland A. Bom, Jan de Jong, Jan Ellens & Theunis Piersma (2026) How do Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosa limosa exploit the Wadden Sea? First results from tagged island birds. LIMOSA 99 (1): 30-38.

During the breeding season in the Netherlands, Black-tailed Godwits are traditionally considered meadow specialists. Whilst their use of coastal wetlands is well documented outside the breeding season, their reliance on intertidal habitats during breeding has remained unclear, partly due to limitations in the spatial and temporal resolution of earlier tracking data. In spring 2024, three Black-tailed Godwits, breeding on the Dutch Wadden Sea Islands (named “Elzenhoeve” and “Apollo” on Ameland; and “Pootjes” on Terschelling) were fitted with high-resolution GPS-GSM tags recording positions at 10-minute intervals. Locations were classified into habitat types: intertidal mudflats, salt marshes, island pools and meadows. All individuals spent several nights at inland pools or mudflats in addition to meadows during the chick-guiding period and exhibited increased spatial mobility after chick loss or the fledging of chicks. Elzenhoeve (Fig. 2a, 2b) and Apollo (Fig. 3a, 3b) made repeated visits to intertidal mudflats, with their movement patterns clearly aligned with tidal cycles. This suggests active foraging on mudflats. Pootjes avoided intertidal zones, but regularly used supralittoral salt marshes and island pools (Fig. 4a, 4b). Notably, Elzenhoeve started its southward migration 18 days later than Apollo, during which it remained in coastal areas near the town of Harlingen and continued to follow the tidal regime closely. These findings indicate that intertidal and saltmarsh habitats serve an important post-breeding function for some Black-tailed Godwits in the Dutch Wadden Sea region, revealing a greater degree of behavioural flexibility in habitat use and migration timing than previously assumed. Further tracking, particularly of mainland godwits near the Wadden Sea, will help determine the extent of this behaviour and whether it is primarily motivated by food availability, predation avoidance, disturbance, or social cues.

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