8

Black-tailed Godwits are medium-sized waders. When seen in Australia, Black-tailed Godwits are usually in eclipse plumage, which is highly cryptic. Except for short, thin light-grey eyebrows and a small throat patch, the rest of the head, neck and chest is plain grey with a brownish tinge. The belly, vent and undertail coverts are light-grey to off-white. The back and wings are dark brownish-grey, with somewhat lighter brownish-grey edge lining. The uppertail is black. In flight they show nearly white underwings with a prominent black fringe. On the upperwing they have conspicuous, broad wing bars. During the breeding season most of the head, neck and chest is russet. The eyes have dark irises. Black-tailed Godwits have a long, dark grey-tipped pinkish, straight bill that is about twice as long as the size of the head. The long legs and the feet are dark-grey.

Twitcher's tip

For identification, primarily in non-breeding plumage, it is useful to know that, compared with Hudsonian Godwits, Black-tailed Godwits have thinner supercilia. Compared with Bar-tailed Godwits, the supercilia of the Black-tailed Godwit are much shorter, hardly extending beyond the eyes. Compared with Bar-tailed Godwits, Black-tailed Godwits have less colour contrast in their non-breeding plumage. During the breeding season their belly is much lighter than the front and the head.

The correct identification of waders ("shorebirds"), e.g. of the Calidris, Tringa, Actitis and related families or of the Charadrius, Pluvialis and related genera in the field can be quite tricky. We have therefore made an attempt to give some advice HERE.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Black-tailed Godwit is available HERE .

There are 3 races of Black-tailed Godwits, which are a strongly migratory species. Race "islandica" breeds in Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, Shetland and the Lofoten Islands. Race "limosa", which is also called the "European Black-tailed Godwit", breeds in parts of southern Scandinavia, most of central, eastern and south-eastern Europe and eastward into central Asia, up to the Yenisei River. Race "melanuroides", the "Asian Black-tailed Godwit", breeds in Mongolia, northern China, Siberia and far-eastern Russia. They spend the northern winters in various parts of the world. Much of the European population will stay in western Ireland, western Iberia, around the Mediterranean or in sub-Saharan Africa or the East African highlands. Others will winter on the South coast of the Caspian Sea, the coastal fringe of Arabia, or parts of northern India. The East Asian population overwinters in parts of south-eastern Asia or Australia. There are only small areas where they stay permanently, mostly in southern England.

In Australia only Black-tailed Godwits, race "melanuroides", are found. They usually populate the coastal fringe on both the West and East of the continent; in the West down to the south-western tip, in the East to about Eyre peninsula, SA. In the South they can be found along the lower Murray River. Occasionally, after significant rainfall, they venture into other parts of the Australian continent, including the semi-arid interior, bascially anywhere but the major sandy deserts of eastern WA, the south-western NT and western SA.

Black-tailed Godwits have a preference for sandbanks and also intertidal wetlands, including mudflats, but they may also be found around fresh water.

Race "melanuroides"

Race "limosa"