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Black-tailed Godwit

Limosa limosa

Near Threatened (IUCN Red List)Sandpipers and Allies
Black-tailed Godwit, photographed by Charles J. Sharp

Photo: Charles J. Sharp · Wikimedia · CC-BY-SA 4.0 (licence)

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Call and song

About the Black-tailed Godwit

Gregarious medium-sized wader with a long, slightly uptilted bill. Note the very long, pink-based bill. Breeding plumage has bright rusty head and breast, dark barring on belly; nonbreeding plumage has rather plain grayish head, breast, and upperparts, unlike streaked breast and back of Bar-tailed Godwit. In flight shows bold white wing stripe, white rump, and black tail. Fairly common but often local; breeds in grassy wetlands, and found year-round in fresh and brackish marshes, and on adjacent tidal flats. Feeds mainly by wading in deep water, probing with its long bill.

Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made

Where it has been recorded

Recorded in 156 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.

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