Safe roost sites are important for waders such as Black-tailed Godwits
It has been said that Black-tailed Godwits are the laziest birds in the world, usually in a frustrated tone while waiting for a marked bird to wake up and reveal the rest of its colour rings. Roosting is not laziness, however; it’s an important resource conservation strategy in the daily balance of energy inputs and outputs.
When Black-tailed Godwits are feeding in tidal systems they have a limited amount of time each day to access the shellfish and worms that make up their diet. These foods are unavailable over the high-tide period, and sometimes in the lull between the ebb and flood, so birds conserve energy by gathering together at roosts. They seek out sites which are safe and sheltered and go to sleep – often for several hours if undisturbed. Theunis Piersma and colleagues have shown that sleep…
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