Bird name:

Black-tailed Godwit

Limosa limosaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Codes: Common Name: BTGD Scientific Name: LIMLIM ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176691

Black-tailed Godwit Juvenile - The juvenile Black-tailed Godwit is paler overall and lacks the barring on the chest and underparts.

Black-tailed Godwit Winter - The winter Black-tailed Godwit has gray upperparts and white underparts.

Black-tailed Godwit Islandica Race - The Islandica race Black-tailed Godwit is similar to the adult Black-tailed Godwit but has a richer chestnut color that extends to the belly.

Black-tailed Godwit - The breeding male Black-tailed Godwit has heavily barred black and white underparts, a white rump and underwing, brown upperparts and a rich chestnut head and neck.

Black-tailed Godwit Breeding Female - The breeding female Black-tailed Godwit is duller than the breeding male.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit: Large, tall godwit with black-barred, orange-brown body. orange-brown head and neck, and white mark between eye and bill; combination of prominent white rump, white wing bar, and pure white underwings is unique among the godwits. Black-tipped yellow bill is long and straight.

● Song: "vi vi vi"

● Foraging & Feeding: Black-tailed Godwit: Walks leisurely and gracefully in shallow to fairly deep water, probing soft mud and sand repeatedly with its long stout bill. Nearly always feeds in groups, sometimes numbering in the thousands, that congregate on mudflats and flooded grasslands.

● Breeding & nesting: Black-tailed Godwit: Breeds on wet grasslands near freshwater marshes. Male performs complex courtship flights, calling and posturing in front of female. Lays four olive green, brown blotched eggs among short grasses. Both parents incubate for 22 to 24 days and care for chicks until their first flight at one month old.

● Similar species: Black-tailed Godwit: Bar-tailed Godwit lacks strongly barred underparts in breeding plumage. Hudsonian Godwit has much darker upperparts, and richer more extensive chestnut coloration underneath.

Flight Pattern

Strong direct flight with body held on horizontal and legs held straight back.

● Range & Habitat: Black-tailed Godwit: Found in a variety of flooded grasslands, estuaries, and exposed mudflats across northern Europe and Asia. Casual on Pribilofs and along the Atlantic Coast.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight8.9 Ounces

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America