Black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa

Identification Tips:

• Length: ? inches
• Large shorebird
• Long straight bill, pink at base and dark at tip
• White wing linings with dark border
• White wing stripe
• White rump and dark tail
• Dark legs
• Rare stray to North America

Adult alternate

• Orange head and breast with white supercilium and dark eyeline
• White belly with dark barring
• Orange back with black markings

Adult basic

• Gray upperparts and breast
• White underparts

Juvenile

• Similar to adult basic
• Wing coverts have black centers and pale fringes
• Buffy wash to head and breast

Similar species:

The rare Black-tailed Godwit is similar to the Bar-tailed and Hudsonian Godwits but has a straighter bill. They are easiest to tell apart in flight. The black wing linings of the Hudsonian Godwit are diagnostic. The Bar-tailed lacks a wing stripe and has a white rump patch extending up the back. The Marbled Godwit is larger with buffy underparts. In flight, the Marbled Godwit has plain wings and a dark rump. Dowitchers also have long bills and feed in a similar manner but are smaller with uniform, not pink and dark, bills.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.