Black-tailed Godwit - Limosa limosa
I have been remiss. I have hung up my fingertips for the Summer and now find myself with a huge deficit of 70 or so birds. I have many excuses the biggest of which was the removal of the camera by my wife ! After a while the size of the deficit prays on your mind and it gets even harder to start again. I am determined however that when I get back to Dubai after the Summer break I will blog at a rate of 2 birds or more a day until I am all caught up.
So without further excuses I give you a long shot of some Black-tailed Godwits with the remains of Summer plumage. This was taken with a walk with the children on the Orwell in Suffolk last week. Its September and across the globe migration is in full swing. These birds have arrived back in their Winter quarters or are still on their way further South. They will have been North in the Spring probably to Iceland. A few Godwits breed in the UK on the lower reaches of the wash but most go to Iceland and the Nearctic.
How do you tell these apart from the other UK Godwit - the Bar-tailed Godwit. Bar tailed have a slightly upturned beak with a thicker base - Black-tailed are a 'finer' bird in bill and overall appearance - longer legged. Black-tailed of course have a think black band in the tail but that's only really visible in flight so not much use. Stood in water you can't really tell on leg length so its the bills. I saw a Greenshank yesterday at Minsmere and I think Bar-tailed has a bill that's more like a greenshank if that makes sense. It is heftier at the base. I am sure there are better diagnostic tools to use but it just comes down to looking at a few dozen dozen over a number of years until you feel comfortable to call them. Which I never am !
I spent yesterday at Minsmere without a camera kicking myself - Bitterns, Marsh Harrier, Whinchat, Bearded Tit, a lovely treecreeper a few yards away - Agh !!! Camera and lense time. Repeat after me - I will invest in a camera and long lense and glue it to my hand.
Black Tailed Godwit - Limosa limosa
Orwell estuary
August 29 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment