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Leading Streak Today

Your Streak Today

Leading Streak Today

Your Streak Today

This bird habitually bobs up and down, known as 'teetering'.

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.

1 .

What is the name of this bird?

Photograph courtesy of http://www.marekszczepanek.pl/

Green Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

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.

2 .

What is the name of this bird?

Photograph courtesy of http://photo-natur.de/

Bar-tailed Godwit

Common Sandpiper

Black-tailed Godwit

Pectoral Sandpiper

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.

3 .

What is the name of this bird?

Photograph courtesy of Sergey Yeliseev

Black-tailed Godwit

Common Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

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.

4 .

What is the name of this bird?

Photograph courtesy of Jason Girvan

Purple Sandpiper

Marsh Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

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.

5 .

What is the name of this bird?

Photograph courtesy of http://photo-natur.de/

Black-tailed Godwit

Purple Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

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.

6 .

What is the name of this bird?

Photograph courtesy of http://photo-natur.de/

Wood Sandpiper

Black-tailed Godwit

Common Sandpiper

Bar-tailed Godwit

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.

7 .

What is the name of this bird?

Photograph courtesy of J M Garg

Wood Sandpiper

Black-tailed Godwit

Green Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

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.

8 .

What is the name of this bird?

Photograph courtesy of Tim Lenz

Curlew Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Bar-tailed Godwit

Green Sandpiper

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.

9 .

What is the name of this bird?