Bar-tailed godwit
Limosa lapponica
Identification Tips:
- 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.