birding-aus

Hudsonian Godwit in Altona, opinions please

To: "Birding-aus (E-mail)" <>
Subject: Hudsonian Godwit in Altona, opinions please
From: Peter Shute <>
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2009 22:09:40 +1000
This morning I saw the Hudsonian Godwit in flight, identified by the underwing 
pattern, but didn't manage to match it up to the bird that landed.  There were 
three godwits feeding together, and I assumed it was the one with reddish 
underparts, but because it didn't have a white throat it doesn't match the 
pictures I've seen of that species in breeding plumage.  I assume the other two 
were bar-tails, as all three had upturned bills.

It also didn't have barring on the underparts, which I assumed might be because 
it isn't in full breeding plumage.  But is it possible that its throat will 
later become white?

Here are the photos, all very grainy:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pshute2/AltonaHudsonianGodwit#

I'm happy that I saw it in flight, but did I identify the right bird on the 
ground?

Peter Shute
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
=============================
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU