Hi Gabriel and all,
I'm seeing just a Marbled Godwit here with the Bar-tailed. Black-tailed
will have a black tail with white base, a striking white underwing, and a
striking white wing stripe, almost like a Willet.
The bird depicted shows features most consistent with Marbled Godwit, with
uniformly warm buffy plumage.
There could be a Black-tailed at Chincoteague, surely, but more likely
would be Hudsonian Godwit at this time of year, and Hudsonians do look more
similar to Black-tailed.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, Va.
On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 1:37 PM, Gabriel Mapel <birdmangabriel@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
Hi All,
I'm on vacation with my family in Chincoteague and last evening out at the
regular location (Swan Cove across from Tom's Cove Visitor Center) I found
the Bar-tailed Godwit and took photos and notes. This morning around
10:30am I returned to Swan Cove and at the beginning of the straight away
along the road when approaching the Visitor Center/Beach Parking Area
(approx. 300 yards from the Visitor Center), and about 50-100 yards off the
road in Swan Cove I found a flock of about 100-150 Willets with several
Marbled Godwits mixed in. I was watching the group with some other
beginning birders when we found the Bar-tailed in with the Willets and
Marbled Godwits. We watched it feeding with the Willet group for several
minutes, and then checked out some nearby Stilt Sandpipers. When we went
back to look for the Bar-tailed it was not in with the Willet/Marbled
Godwit group. A couple of minutes later I relocated the Bar-tailed farther
to the left,
separated from the large Willet/Marbled Godwit group. Next to the
Bar-tailed was another Godwit that I thought looked a little odd to be a
Marbled but I didn't pay much attention to it and focused on studying the
Bar-tailed.
A while later my dad pulled up and had me show him the Bar-tailed. He
said "Which one is it? The two Godwits look identical other than for size".
I knew that a Marbled should not look identical to a Bar-tailed. I looked
in the scope and started studying the slightly larger Godwit. It soon
became apparent to me that I may be looking at the Black-tailed Godwit that
spent the winter at Swan Cove last winter. Soon two other Godwits joined
the Bar-tailed and poss. Black-tailed, which were clearly Marbled. My
notes I took during my observation of the Godwits included: "Bar-tailed
notes: Dark back, silver sides with black 'glitter', whitish under tail,
pink bill, black tip. Small compared to Marbled Godwits, shorter legs".
(All those notes were taken before I clued into the possible Black-tailed
and I didn't go into too much depth because I took more extensive notes of
the Bar-tailed yesterday). Notes including Bar- and possible Black-tailed:
"Black-tailed: Slightly larger than Bar-tailed, smaller than Marbled
Godwits. All black wing tips, all black tail, compared to Bar-tailed's
barred tail. Overall similar to Bar-tailed: brown grayish with blackish on
back, pink upper 3 quarters of bill, black towards the tip. Distinguished
by all black tail, larger size, etc.".
Here is a link to several photos of the Godwits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrielmapel/sets/72157635449654989/
I waited quite a long time to see if the Godwits would fly but they never
did so I left to come back here and download the photographs and post. I
will return this afternoon to Swan Cove.
Take a look at the photos and I'd love to hear your opinions. I am a
novice on Shorebirds (they are definitely the class of bird I struggle to
identify most) so I would be thrilled to hear if the experts agree with the
identification of Black-tailed or not. I'm sure we will get it positively
identified before long!
Good Birding,
Gabriel Mapel
New Hope, Va (Right now in Chincoteague, Va)
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