God, wit one was it? (1 Viewer)

[Steveiom]

My first post and any help most welcome. Looks like a great forum.

I've had this problem before, black or bar tailed godwit? Saw one today at Derbyhaven on the Isle of Man and immediately thought it was a 'black' because of the tail. I returned to my books to discover lots of pictures of bar tailed godwits with very black back ends and not barred at all until flight. I've read about the black wing bar on the 'Black tailed' but unfortunately I could not identify this on take off (was getting dark). The bird seemed slightly smaller than the Godwits that I had seen out in Portugal, as far as I was concerned all of those birds were black tailed and I know Bar-tailed are slightly smaller. Can anybody give me any other differences that might help me correctly identify this bird.

Steve

 

[Gaz Shilton]

Barwits in winter plumage look more 'chequered' above than the more 'uniform' plumage of the winter blackwit......I think if I remember rightly the length of leg between the knee and body is longer in the barwit, it could be the other way round tho'.

Hope this helps.

 

[alan_rymer]

Barwits in winter plumage look more 'chequered' above than the more 'uniform' plumage of the winter blackwit......I think if I remember rightly the length of leg between the knee and body is longer in the barwit, it could be the other way round tho'.

Hope this helps.

Gaz

Its the other way round ( Shorter on the Bar wit ( Bar is a shorter word than Black )), also from what I have been told, "if it was on a beach, it was a Barwit".
Maybe that helps, or not?.

 

[robinm]

I think if I remember rightly the length of leg between the knee and body is longer in the barwit, it could be the other way round tho'.

Hope this helps.

Other way round - black is longer than bar.

In flight I find the white wing bar of the Black-tailed is usually obvious.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Hi Steve
Godwits are a nightmare sometimes. If you can get hold of a copy of 'the macmillan field guide to bird identification' by Harris, Tucker and Vinnicombe ISBN 0333592808 it has a very good section on seperating them. It's out of print but you may be able to borrow one through your local library. I have the book but cannot scan the pages as it will infringe copyright.

They advise that Blackwit= tall, long straight bill, long neck and long legs
Barwits= shorter, shorter bill slightly upcurved, shorter legged.
Gaz had got it wrong the tibia is longer in blackwits

Hope this helps

Keith

 

[Gaz Shilton]

Hi Steve
Godwits are a nightmare sometimes. If you can get hold of a copy of 'the macmillan field guide to bird identification' by Harris, Tucker and Vinnicombe ISBN 0333592808 it has a very good section on seperating them. It's out of print but you may be able to borrow one through your local library. I have the book but cannot scan the pages as it will infringe copyright.

They advise that Blackwit= tall, long straight bill, long neck and long legs
Barwits= shorter, shorter bill slightly upcurved, shorter legged.
Gaz had got it wrong the tibia is longer in blackwits

Hope this helps

Keith

Apologies, my mistake.The Blackwit is the one with the longer legs...

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Apologies, my mistake.The Blackwit is the one with the longer legs...

Don't worry Gaz. I still need to look at the book with little/ringed plovers. I cannot make their differences stick.
Keith

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

There are two versions of this thread running. In the other one I mentioned leg length and the fact that a Barwit's bill tends to look slightly upturned and a Blackwits looks straight.

Stephen.

 

[christineredgate]

not a good photo,but this is a Blacktailed,taken on the 28th Dec.We have had large flocks of these birds here,for the last couple of weeks.99% sure it is ,as a another birder confirmed.It is a digiscoped image in poor light.

 

[hollis_f]

Hi Steve
Godwits are a nightmare sometimes. If you can get hold of a copy of 'the macmillan field guide to bird identification' by Harris, Tucker and Vinnicombe ISBN 0333592808 it has a very good section on seperating them. It's out of print but you may be able to borrow one through your local library. I have the book but cannot scan the pages as it will infringe copyright.

Phew! £115 may be a bit much for me! Looks like I'll be searching the local libraries.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Phew! £115 may be a bit much for me! Looks like I'll be searching the local libraries.

:eek!:See what you mean I'll have to take a bit more care of my copy, cover price £14.99. Although if times get hard rather than remortgaging the house I could put it on e-bay

 

[Ruby]

Hi Steve,

Here's a couple of pics that might help with some of the structural differences :-

Barwit - shorter upper legs, upturned bill, more dark than pink on bill.
Blackwit - Longer upper legs, straighter bill, more pink than dark.

Things that you can't see from these pics :-

Barwit - smaller bird, with darker mottled upperparts in Winter plumage (as per photo) and rufous extending all the way underneath in Summer plumage.
Blackwit - bigger, with plainer grey-ish upperparts in Winter and rufous tones being more confined to breast in Summer.


Hope this helps.... Ruby

 

[Steveiom]

Barwit

Wow, thanks for all that guys. I'm now convinced that it was a Barwit and not a Blackwit. The upper parts of the bird were checked and not plain and it's bill was obviously upturned (it was this that made it stand out in silhouette against a lot of Redshank) and as I mentioned in my original post the bird seemed quite small compared to previous Godwits that I have seen...and yes it was on a beach.

Thanks for the book reference as well, have several books as they do vary in their descriptions and pics but £115 is a bit steep, nevermind.

Sorry for the two posts, amateur slip of the mouse!

 

[Bubbs]

Phew! £115 may be a bit much for me! Looks like I'll be searching the local libraries.

I don't understand..what costs £115?

John.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

I don't understand..what costs £115?

John.

John,
The Macmillan Field Guide to Bird Identification by Harris, Tucker & Vinnicombe.
Its out of print, original cover price (softback) £14.99
On Amazon they will get you a used copy for £115.00 within 2 days according to their page. Like to see that.
Keith