Bar-tailed godwit Limosa lapponica

Identification Tips:

• Length: 13 inches
• Large shorebird
• Long upturned bill, pink at base and dark at tip
• Pale wing linings
• Upper surface of wings fairly uniform
• White rump (dark in Alaskan race) and barred tail
• Dark legs
• Breeds in Alaska but rare elsewhere in United States

Adult alternate

• White supercilium and dark eyeline
• Reddish-brown head, neck and underparts
• Black upperparts with white and reddish-brown feather edges and spots

Adult basic

• Gray upperparts and breast
• Wing coverts gray with black streaks
• White underparts

Juvenile

• Similar to adult basic
• Wing coverts boldly marked with black and white
• Brownish wash to gray upperparts

Similar species:

Dowitchers also have long bills and feed in a similar manner but are smaller with uniform, not pink and dark, bills. The Marbled Godwit is larger with buffy underparts. In flight, the Marbled Godwit has plain wings and a dark rump. The rare Black-tailed and commoner Hudsonian Godwits are similar and are easiest to tell apart in flight. Both Black-tailed and Hudsonian Godwits have white wing stripes.

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