Bar-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
38-46 cm. Female larger. Large, pale, brown-streaked wader with a long, tapering, slightly upturned bill, pink at base with blackish tip; dark grey legs. Female: bill longer. Non-breeding(both sexes): fawn rear eyebrow; upperparts pale grey-brown, subtly streaked and mottled; paler below, finely streaked. Breeding Plumage: male: head/body chestnut or brick-red; upperparts richly patterned black and buff. Female: head/body deep buff. Singles, parties, flocks, spread out widely over mudflats when feeding. Rams bill to hilt in soft ground; wades deep. Sometimes roosts in mangroves. Flight swift, often in staggered lines or chevrons low to water. Race baueri, the usual form in e. Aust., has no pale wingbar, but whitish rump and whitish, finely-barred tail, and finely dark-barred underwing which looks greyish in flight.
- Similar Species
- Asian Dowitcher: straight untapering black bill; larger white eyebrow; heavier markings above. Black-tailed and Hudsonian Godwits.
- Voice
- scratchy 'ketta-ket'; soft 'kit-kit-kit'.
- Habitat
- tidal mudflats, estuaries, sewage ponds, shallow river margins, brackish or saline inland lakes, flooded pastures, airfields.
- Range & Status
- the race baueri of this widespread wader, breeding in ne. Siberia and nw. Alaska, is thought to migrate mostly to Indonesia, PNG, e. Aust.; NZ and islands. Widespread summer migrant to e. Aust. and Tas. (Sept.-April): mostly on coasts, but regular inland passage; often overwinters. The race menzbieri, breeding in c. Siberia, occurs in WA.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Limosa lapponica menzbieri 2. Limosa lapponica baueri
