Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
I first saw this bird foraging on the beach ~300 meters north of the Garcia River mouth. It was a pale tannish Godwit with a distinct white supercilium contrasting with a fairly darkly streaked crown and dark eyeline, a bicolored bill (pinkish proximally, dark distally), unstreaked below with messy markings on the back, scaps, and coverts. I watched the bird for several minutes as it forage loosely with the other larger shorebirds, then something spooked them all, and they flew past my south towards the Garcia River mouth, including the Godwit. In flight, the Bar-tailed had pale tannish wings (lacking any white wing stripe, as in Hudsonian or Black-tailed), a pale tannish lower back (no white rump/back, which suggests the L.l.baueri or "Siberian" subspecies group), and a finely barred tail. None of the orangeish tones of a Marbled Godwit, and the wing/tail pattern rules out more exotic birds. Apparently mostly in basic plumage, with a few unmolted coverts and scap feathers. Just the fourth Mendocino County record (fide Chuck Vaughn – apparently the first record is not in eBird), and second record for the Garcia River mouth; also the first adult for the county.
Technical information
- Camera
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 110.13 MB