Black-tailed Godwit

WadersWaders Index Bar-tailed Godwit Banded Lapwing Black-fronted Dotterel Black-tailed Godwit Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) Hooded Plover Inland Dotterel Lesser Sand Plover Long-toed Stint Oriental Plover Pacific Golden Plover Pectoral Sandpiper Pied Stilt Red-kneed Dotterel Red-necked Avocet Red-necked Stint Ruff Sanderling Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Sooty Oystercatcher

The Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limos) is a large wader with a long bill and long-legged. There are four recognised subspecies, all of which have breeding plumage of a orange head, neck and chest. In winter the plumage is a dull grey-brown. They have the distinctive black and white wingbar at all times.

The Black-tailed Godwit is sometimes mistaken for the Bar-tailed Godwit. Whilst both are smaller than curlews and larger than redshanks, and compared to curlews, the godwit have relatively straight bills in comparison. Although, Bar-tailed Godwite have a gentle upturn to their bills, compared to the Black-tailed Godwits, the latter have noticeably longer legs.

It is in winter that the difference between the Black-tailed Godwit and the Bar-tailed Godwit becomes more obvious, in that the Black-tailed Godwits are an almost uniform pale grey-brown, whilst the Bar-tailed Godwits have streaking on their upper part. In summer both develop chestnut coloured plumage on the neck, although the Bar-tailed Godwit colour continues over the belly.

In summer, both develop a rich chestnut plumage to the neck but in bar-tailed godwits this continues over the belly. Year-round, black-tailed godwits have noticeably longer legs while bar-tailed godwits have a gentle upturn to their bills.

Usually recorded in the coastal areas across Australia, the Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) photographed here were at the Alice Springs Sewage Ponds.

The photographs presented here were taking in the month of November.