Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwit, a comparison

Two fairly common birds on the north Norfolk coast at this time of year are the Bar-tailed Godwit (photos above) and the Black-tailed Godwit (photos below). Superficially similar, in the fact that they both have long legs, long bills and are brown/grey, but are easily told apart, especially when seen together. The 'Barwit' is a smaller, more chunky looking bird, with shorter legs, an upturned bill and a distinct supercilium in its' winter plumage. The 'Blackwit' is a larger bird with an unfathomably long, straight bill, longer legs and a shorter, less distinct supercilium.

Black-tailed Godwits in the sun

A Godwit and a Redshank

A couple of obliging waders in their winter 'drabness' from my recent trip to the Norfolk coast. The birds seem a lot more 'confiding' at Titchwell than they do at other sites. Redshank normally fly off at the slightest hint of anything and Godwits tend to follow pretty quickly, but here they were quite happy feeding quite closely to the coast path.

Black-tailed Godwit (again)

Just a few more shots of an obliging Black-tailed Godwit at Titchwell RSPB that I have just got around to looking at. I like the last one with him having a scratch!

Black-tailed Godwit

Another set of `digiscoped` images from my recent trip to north Norfolk of which I am quite pleased.

I don`t know whether it is the large number of visitors that Titchwell has that makes the birds quite relaxed, but you are able to get quite close without seeming to disturb them. This lends itself to being able to get half-decent shots like the ones above.

Black-tailed Godwits

We are lucky in the Peterborough area to have The Nene Washes RSPB reserve on our doorstep. This site is a nationally important one for breeding wading birds such as the Common Snipe and the Black-tailed Godwit. Each year these birds breed on this area of managed floodland and pasture which gives people a chance to view these amazing birds at quite close quarters.

Digiscoped using Canon Powershot A640 and Kowa TSN-883 x30

The Black-tailed Godwit is a large wader with a long, straight bill, long black legs and a long neck. In Spring the head, neck and breast are chestnut red, with the belly being white with dark bars and the back is mottled grey/brown.

By 1855 this bird had stopped breeding in Britain, but in 1952 nesting started at the Ouse Washes and then some birds of the Icelandic race began nesting in Scotland. The RSPB have given this bird special protection and consequently a few more breeding colonies have become established. In 2002 around 50 pairs nested in Britain, mostly on the Nene and Ouse Washes (both RSPB reserves). The bird does, however migrate to this country in the winter, indeed the estimated numbers that do over-winter are around 12,000 in Britain and 8,000-10,000 in Ireland. In Europe this birds numbers are declining due to land drainage.