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Black-tailed Godwit
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Adults have blue-grey legs and a very long straight bill with a slight upward curve and pink at the base. The neck, breast and belly are brick red in breeding plumage, off white in winter. The back is mottled grey.
Their breeding habitat is temperate wetlands in Europe and Asia on open grassland. They nest on the ground, usually in short vegetation, laying 3-6 eggs.
They migrate in flocks to western Europe, Africa, south Asia and Australia. Interestingly, although this species occurs in Ireland and Great Britain all year round, they are not the same birds. The breeding birds depart in autumn, but are replaced in winter by the larger Icelandic race, L. l. islandica. These birds occasionally appear in the Aleutian Islands and, rarely, on the Atlantic coast of North America.
These birds forage by probing on mudflats or in marshes. In short vegetation, they may pick up insects by sight. They mainly eat insects and crustaceans, but also eat parts of aquatic plants. They are much more likely to be found on freshwater than the coastal Bar-tailed Godwit. In flight, they can be distinguished from the Hudsonian Godwit by their white wing linings with black edges.
In 2006 BirdLife International classified this species as Near Threatened due to a decline in numbers of around 25% in the previous 15 years. It is also among the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. |
Mike-Rix, Argus has marked this note useful
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- Argus
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3816 W: 190 N: 11348]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(34987) - [2008-07-27 3:50]
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Hello Alex,
Welcome to TN!
A very nice shot of a Black-tailed Godwit, taken with pretty good sharpness against a fine OOF natural BG.
The composition would have been better if there were more space on the left, the direction the bird is facing. The space on the right has no value in this image.
Thanks for sharing this fine image,
Regards, Ivan
Hello Alex,
Nice 'grutto' photo. The colors are amazing. I would crop it a little bit and maybe rotate.
Regards,
Mike
beautiful pic, TFS Ori
![Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 32 W: 1 N: 17]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-n-s.gif)
(154)![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2123 W: 11 N: 1810]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
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