Teesmouth Bird Club

I'm a newbie with a problem. I've seen godwits on several occasions, in Teesmouth and elsewhere, and am always baffled by the differences between the 2 species. Birders around me confidently announce the presence of a black-tailed or a bar-tailed but I just see a godwit. I took a couple of pictures today of what I think is a bar-tailed; slightly up-curved bill - must be bar-tailed. But are the legs too long - is it black-tailed? What are the distinguishing features that experienced birders use to tell them apart? I know that it's often easier to tell species apart when you can see both together, like Arctic & common terns on the Farne Islands, but today I only saw a single bird.
Any advice would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Mike

They're Black-tailed Godwits!

They're not easy to tell apart especially in winter plumage. A rough idea can usually be told from habitat alone as Black-tailed seem to favour the fresh-water pools such as at RSPB Saltholme. The Bar-tailed Godwits favour saline areas such as Seaton Snook where 3-4 can usually be seen around high tide. It's a rough guide as they do sometimes overlap as well such as at Greatham Creek and Tidal Pool. I've also seen the odd Bar-tailed Godwit at Saltholme though usually on the grass rather than in the pools.

For ID points I use the bill and tail area.

Bar-tailed have shorter more upcurved bills, shorter legs and usually you can see some barring on the tail feathers. The photo was taken at Seaton Snook last week.

Back-tailed Godwit have black tails, longer legs and the bill is longer with just the underside being a little upcurved as on your photos.

Ian,

thanks very much for that helpful reply. Now I need to find some bar-tails!

Mike

This year there have been a lot of Bar-tails at the RSPB reserve, sometimes very close, e.g. on the Bottom Tank, and there's always nice people who are real experts who will help you out if you're unsure.
Cheers,
Steve

And if you see a big white wing bar then you know it's a blackwit
Rich