British Birds - Sandpipers and Godwits

This bird habitually bobs up and down, known as 'teetering', and has a distinctive flight with stiff, bowed wings. Can you identify it? Question 9 will let you know!

British Birds - Sandpipers and Godwits

Godwits are shore birds (family Scolopacidae), large sandpipers with long legs and bills. Although not common tablefare today, they were once a popular British dish. Sir Thomas Browne writing in the seventeenth century noted that godwits "were accounted the daintiest dish in England." See if you can identify the following birds.

Which of these options do you prefer?

  1. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Tim Lenz
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Tryngites subruficollis
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Passage Migrant
    • Outside the breeding season, this bird is normally found on short-grass habitats such as airfields or golf-courses.
    • These birds pick up food by sight, mainly eating insects and other invertebrates.

  2. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of J M Garg
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Tringa ochropus
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Winter Visitor & Passage Migrant
    • It frequently bobs up and down when standing.
    • Often appears nervous and will fly off with a low zig-zagging flight when disturbed.

  3. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of http://www.marekszczepanek.pl/
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Calidris ferruginea
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Winter Visitor And Passage Migrant
    • The male performs an aerial display during courtship.
    • The clutch of 3-4 eggs are laid in ground scrape in the tundra.
    • This wader is highly gregarious.

  4. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of http://photo-natur.de/
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Limosa lapponica
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Winter Visitor & Passage Migrant
    • It breeds in the Arctic of Scandinavia and Siberia, and hundreds of thousands of them pass through the UK, on their way further south, or stop off here for the winter.

  5. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of http://photo-natur.de/
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Calidris maritima
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Winter Visitor & Passage Migrant
    • The male takes the major responsibility for incubation and tends the chicks.
    • This species is tame and approachable.
    • Can be seen principally along the east and south coasts.

  6. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of http://photo-natur.de/
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Limosa limosa
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Winter Visitor, Passage Migrant And Scarce Summer Breeding Species
    • Unpaired males defend a temporary territory and perform display flights to attract a mate.
    • Once eggs are laid, an area of 30-50 metres around the nest is defended.

  7. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of http://www.marekszczepanek.pl/
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Tringa glareola
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Passage Migrant & Rare Localised Breeder In Far North
    • This bird is a medium-sized wading bird, with a fine straight bill, yellowish legs and a conspicuous long white stripe from the bill over the eye to the back of the neck.

  8. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of http://photo-natur.de/
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Calidris melanotos
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Winter Visitor & Passage Migrant
    • It is a very long-distance migrant breeding in the boggy tundra of northeast Asia and North America.
    • On migration and in winter, this species is typically found in freshwater habitats.

  9. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Sergey Yeliseev
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Actitis hypoleucos
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Resident Breeding Species And Passage Migrant
    • It habitually bobs up and down, known as 'teetering', and has a distinctive flight with stiff, bowed wings.
    • Its presence is often betrayed by its three-note call as it flies off.

  10. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Jason Girvan
    • Group: Sandpipers and allies
    • Binomial: Tringa stagnatilis
    • Order: Charadriiformes
    • Family: Scolopacidae
    • Status: Rare Vagrant
    • They prefer to winter on fresh water wetlands such as swamps and lakes and are usually seen singly or in small groups.
    • These birds forage by probing in shallow water or on wet mud.
TJS - Web Design Lincolnshire