5 a.m., beautiful, sunny morning, by appearance, a common, quite wet meadow. Omnipresent dew on the grass. Surrounding, a dirt and an asphalt road, some buildings afar, silhouettes of some birds. Magic of this place is beginning to cast its charm as we get closer to the meadow. There is a whole colony of Black-tailed Godwits living there. Despite being estimated that there are couple of thousands of Black-tailed Godwits in Poland they are very hard to meet, not to mention photograph. Godwit is quite a big bird from a family of Sandpipers. Its weight reaches up to 0.5 kilogram with a wingspan of around 75 centimeters. It builds its nest on a ground, on the grass to be exact. Brooding godwit is unnoticeable, even from a couple of meters distance. Only when it considers the intruder to be a threat it would raise into flight. And as it does that in the last moment, it can scare an unaware passerby. Godwit winters in the Central Africa. It flew to us in its breeding season in March/April. I assure you, observing godwits “floundering” in fairly high, sprinkled with dew grass during a sunny morning is a beautiful picture of our native environment. Look, listen to a substitute of that on my site…
Last minute news 06/2014 – Iceland
In Poland, you can say so, the black-tailed godwit is a rarity. In Iceland, on its endless meadows, it’s a regularity. It’s difficult not to encounter them. Unfortunately they are quite skittish and it’s not easy to approach them the way I managed to approach the rock ptarmigan or the red-throated loon. It is estimated that their population in Iceland is 25 thousand couples. It happened to me that while I was eating breakfast in a small hotel located off the beaten track I saw and heard black-tailed godwits flying nearby. Several dozen meters from the hotel parking lot a few black-tailed godwits were feeding peacefully on a meadow among redshanks, whimbrels and European golden plovers. It was an amazing view for a visitor from Poland. The encounter was abundant with photos as well as a recording of the black-tailed godwit’s sound. The black-tailed godwit is one of the species, to which I come back with pleasure. Who knows when the next encounter will take place?
Last minute news 01/2016- Thailand
Last minute news - 04/2018
This was my second contact with the black-tailed godwit in Poland. This time, a godwit appeared shortly before sunset among the ruffs. Unfortunately, the light was not good anymore and the bird was too far away, but I added one photo to the gallery in memory of such a meeting.
Last minute news -06/2018 Iceland
This time I spent some time to take better pictures of the black-tailed godwit. This beautiful bird is commonly found in Iceland. I took a lot of better, dynamic photos and the gallery was rebuilt and received a very good status.
Last minute news-05-2024 – Kazakhstan
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