The Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica is one of the wader species
which undergoes a pre-nuptial
moult in order to obtain a colourfull breeding
plumage which contrasts with it's rather plain non-breeding
or winter
plumage. Bar-tailed Godwits are long-distance migrants, they breed in arctic
and sub-arctic
regions from Scandinavia (i.e. the nominate race
lapponica) to Alaska (i.e. the race baueri). Bar-tailed
Godwits spend
the winter as far away as New Zealand and West Africa but also along the
North Sea coast in
NW Europe.
The breeding plumage
is obtained before spring migration commences. As a consequence of this as a
rule
the most southerly wintering populations have finished moulting when
the most northerly populations
are only halfway the moulting process. What
is generally accepted however is that the pre-breeding moult
of all
populations takes place from March to May.
When the breeding
season is over Bar-tailed Godwits migrate to stations away from the breeding
areas such
as the shallow Waddensea off the coasts of Germany and The
Netherlands. Here they undergo a complete
moult which includes all flight
feathers . When the post-breeding moult is finished the birds, now in winter
dress, prepare to migrate further to wintering grounds south and west though
substantial numbers stay to
winter in the North Sea area.
During wader counts
in the ninety-ninetees in the Rhine-Meuse delta in the southwest of The
Netherlands I
came across a male Bar-tailed Godwit in splendid breeding
plumage right in the middle of the winter! In the
beginning of 2000 I even
found two such males. My explanation for this was that somehow a hormonal
disfunction caused these odd birds to moult from one pre-breeding plumage
into the next pre-breeding instead of the normal winter plumage.
Cold spells such as
the one this winter, which began on Boxing Day 2008, force waders to flee
and although
some stay and face the cold others move considerable distances
to various other European estuaries along
the Atlantic coasts.
While watching a high
tide roost in the Dutch Rhine-Meuse delta on 11th January a mixed group of
Bar-tailed
and Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits came in and settled among a
group of Oystercatchers many of which were
already weakened by the hard
frost. To my surprise the group contained no less than six Bar-tailed
Godwits in
breeding plumage: 5 males and one female! As can be seen in
picture no 2 taken in May, the breeding plumage of some female Bar-tailed
Godwits can show quite a lot of red-brown feathers.
According to
Engelmoer (2008, diss.: Breeding origins of wader populations utilizing the
Wadden Sea c Fryske
Akademy,Leeuwarden, ISBN 978-90-367-3309-0) the
Bar-tailed Godwits which winter in the Wadden Sea belong
to the nominate
race lapponica while the race taimyrensis uses the Wadden
Sea as stepping stone on it's journey
to and from West Africa. Judged by the
underwing pattern, most birds in the group I studied on 11th January 2009
seem to belong to the race lapponica though one bird may have been
taimyrensis as judged by the rather dense
brown barring of the
underwing (see picture no 11).
1. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica ad male in breeding plumage
11012009 0450 Stellendam,The Netherlands
2. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica female
22052008 Westerscheldt,The Netherlands c Norman Deans van Swelm
%20&%20female%20(right)%20in%20breeding%20plumage%2011012009%200651%20Stdam,nl.jpg)
3. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica ad male (left) & female (right) in
breeding plumage
11012009 0651 Stellendam,The Netherlands
4. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica female in breeding plumage
11012009 02491 Stellendam,The Netherlands
5. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica male in breeding plumage
11012009 60 Stellendam,The Netherlands
6. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica 2 males in breeding plumage
11012009 117 Stellendam,The Netherlands
7. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica male in breeding plumage
11012009 Stellendam,The Netherlands
8. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica males in breeding plumage
11012009 105 Stellendam,The Netherlands
9. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica 3 ad males in breeding plumage
11012009 0630 Stellendam,The Netherlands
10. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica in non-breeding plumage
11012009 0624 Stellendam,The Netherlands
11. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica 3 ad males
in breeding plumage,
the bird with wings up right under may be L.l.taimyrensis
11012009 00151 Stellendam,The Netherlands
12.
Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica ad male in breeding plumage wings up
11012009 02531 Stellendam,The Netherlands
13. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica ad male nominate lapponica
underwing
11012009 0957 Stellendam,The Netherlands
14. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica in flight 11012009 Stellendam,The
Netherlands
15. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica nominate lapponica underwing
11012009 0952 Stellendam,The Netherlands
16. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica nominate lapponica underwing
11012009 0963 Stellendam,The Netherlands
17. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica nominate lapponica underwing
11012009 0993 Stellendam,The Netherlands
18. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica pale-rumped nomiate in
non-breeding plumage
11012009 166 Stellendam,The Netherlands
19. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica underwing pattern 11012009 44
Stellendam,The Netherlands
20. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica underwing pattern 11012009 0586
Stellendam,The Netherlands
21. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica underwing pattern 11012009 0603
Stellendam,The Netherlands
22. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica underwing patterns typical for
nominate race lapponica
11012009 01481 Stellendam,The Netherlands
