Monday, 28 February 2011

World Bird Wednesday - Bar-Tailed Godwit.

A few weeks ago I was in the right place at the right time to band (ring if you wish!) some Bar-Tailed Godwit. I'd watched these birds in both the northern and southern hemisphere, but I had never had one in the hand. What a splendid bird. Huge, but slender beaks and long legs.

These are some picture from the beach and during processing.


















































You can find many more images of birds from around the world at World Bird Wednesday.


You can see the blog post that originally featured these images here, and you can look at the most recent of my posts by clicking the Paying Ready Attention link on the RHS of the screen.
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13 comments:

  1. Unknown1 March 2011 at 21:16

    Very Interesting Bird.Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  2. Johnny Nutcase2 March 2011 at 03:44

    those are some good looking birds! I've only see Marbled Godwits (there's a good birding festival in Northern CA called Godwit Days). Great post!

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  3. theconstantwalker2 March 2011 at 07:36

    I have still to see a Bar-tailed but we do get them on my patch. Black-tailed Godwits I get to see in numbers and I love to watch them feeding.

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  4. holdingmoments2 March 2011 at 08:08

    Lovely to see them up close like this.

    I always wonder what they must be thinking whilst they are being 'ringed'.

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  5. Martha Z2 March 2011 at 08:51

    I enjoyed several hours watching marbled godwits and other species last week.

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  6. joo2 March 2011 at 09:12

    They are great! I love this post Steward!
    Greetings:)

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  7. Sondra2 March 2011 at 10:19

    ITs a beautiful Bird!!

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  8. Arija2 March 2011 at 13:47

    They look so delicate. It must be utterly thrilling to hold a wild, pulsating bird in your hands. Great that you could join in the banding.

    I have only held undamaged birds, i.e. that had not stunned themselves or tried to drown in our pool, a few times when they had trapped themselves in our sunroom. The greatest thrill was a peregrine falcon.

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  9. mick2 March 2011 at 15:35

    Wow! I would love to be able to get my hands around one of those! I have photographed one orange flagged Godwit up this way - 2 or 3 years ago.

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  10. Hilke Breder2 March 2011 at 23:21

    Nice shots! It's fun to see one of the Marbled Godwits walking about totally oblivious to that orange tag on the leg! The gull looks awfully big compared to the Godwits behind it.

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  11. Anonymous3 March 2011 at 07:37

    Lovely birds! They do look delicate with those long legs and slender bill!

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  12. Hilke Breder3 March 2011 at 09:41

    Thanks, Stewart, for correcting me. I must have been fixated on Marbled Godwits, having seen a previous post about.

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  13. Springman3 March 2011 at 09:51

    Great photos of this interesting process. I must see it done one day. The Godwits are cooperating quite willingly I hope!

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