Godwits IDs

[Ukwildlifeo]

Last week I came across these godwits. At the time one looked bigger than the other two so I'm wondering if they are both the same species or different. The middle one in the following pic looked bigger and had just pecked the in flight one.



The 2 remaining just after


The 'big' one on its own


Any ideas?

[Jonners]

They all look like Black-tailed Godwits to me

[solus]

Black-tails for me too - note the longer tibia (upper leg) than Bar-tailed and the plainer feathering on the back which Black-tailed Godwits have in winter, whereas Bar-taileds are scalier. The bill is also straighter than Bar-tailed but that is often not so easy to assess in the field. And of course, when you see them in flight, then the clincher is the black tail and the white wing-bars!

[RobinP]

The big one's the Godfather!

[Ukwildlifeo]

Thanks guys the slightly bigger size of the one had me convinced it must be the 2 different species, but its obvious (now!) that they are all black tailed godwits

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

the slightly bigger size of the one had me convinced it must be the 2 different species

The one on the right (slightly larger) is most likely a female, females are slightly larger than males with slightly longer legs and bills. This could have caused your confusion.