Black-tailed Godwit
These are phenomenal birds and crazy as far as the migration ability goes. They have three subspecies and one of them - the Bar-tailed Godwit are known to migrate 11,000 km from Alaska to New-Zealand in a single, non-stop, 8 day flight. I have never seen them - but hope to see them sometime. Meanwhile coming back to the bird at hand - the Black-tailed Godwit, it is a fairly large (42 cm), have orange head, neck and chest in breeding plumage and dull grey in winter with distinctive black and white wing bar at all times.
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| Perfect disagreement... Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Showing off the Black Tail... |
These birds have the breeding stretches from Iceland and Europe and areas of Central Asia. They spend their winters in areas as diverse as Indian Subcontinent, Australia, western Europe and Africa. Their migration stories are no less thrilling than the Bar-winged cousins. It is more commonly found in the in land freshwater bodies than the Bar-tailed Godwits. In flight the bold black and white wingbar and the white rump can be clearly seen.
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| Saw these birds for the first time and in their hundreds... |
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| One more good picture that I had and wanted to share. |
The world population is estimated to be around 6 lacs and is classified as 'Near Threatened'. I must add that I was lucky today to see almost hundred plus birds while birding today at Pochram Wildlife Sanctuary along with the Hyderabad Birding Pals. eBird also lists as this bird as 'Rare' in and around this area. A lifer and a memorable birding day....
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| A close up of this beautiful bird... |
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