Black-tailed Godwit

Limosa limosa

Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Presence in the Strait: Seasonal
Abundance: scarce
Protection in Spain: Special protection (List)
In Spanish: Aguja colinegra

Photograph: Christoph Moning, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 36–44 cm
Wingspan: 62–70 cm
Weight: 275–350 g

Presence in the Strait

Scarce winter visitor to wetlands. Varies in number from year to year (25-600 birds).

Identification

Similar to Bar-tailed Godwit, but with longer legs, especially the tibiae. In flight, displays white wing bars and rump, with black tail-band. Summer plumage is orange-rufous; grey in winter.

Movements

Peaks in 1st hf. February and 1st hf. September.

Ring recoveries

Holland (16) and Germany (1).

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

29 %

Peak in September. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 22 February 1967
Latest record: 29 December 2024

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Spanish Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: CR · Critically endangered · breeding — VU · Vulnerable · wintering or migrating
Global Red List (IUCN): NT · Near threatened

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Phenology compared

Monthly distribution in proportion, by decade. It shows whether the passage is getting earlier or later.

2000–2009

2010–2026

Proportions, not totals: observation effort grew faster than any population.

Where they come from

17 birds ringed in other countries and recovered in the area.

Netherlands16
Germany1

See the journey on the map

Same genus in the Strait

Bar-tailed Godwit33–42 cm · Seasonal · overlapping size

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
GBIF taxon key: 2481685

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Christoph Moning, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Black-tailed Godwit

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Ring recoveries

Gallery