Bar-tailed Godwit Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesBar-tailed Godwit
Breeding male
A large shorebird with a long, slightly upturned bill. Breeding male has rich rufous underparts and dark brown upperparts with some rufous and white markings. Bill is mostly black during the breeding season.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryFinnmark, June 14, 2015Breeding female
Female is larger than male, with a longer bill. Breeding female is less colorful than male, with a buffy neck and breast and a whitish belly with some barring.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryFinnmark, June 17, 2015Breeding male
A large, long-legged shorebird with a long, slightly upturned bill. Breeding male has rufous underparts and a rufous face.
© Erkki Lehtovirta / Macaulay LibraryLapland, June 10, 2015Juvenile
Juvenile has a finely streaked, buffy breast that gives way to white lower underparts. Upperparts have a strongly patterned, checkered appearance.
© Evan Lipton / Macaulay LibraryNorthland, October 25, 2013Nonbreeding adult
Nonbreeding adult has grayish-brown upperparts. Individual feathers have dark central lines, yielding a streaked look. Breast is grayish, with fine streaking, and lower underparts are white. Bill is pinkish at the base and black at the tip.
© Peter Taylor / Macaulay LibraryQueensland, December 27, 2016Nonbreeding adult
Uses its long bill to probe mudflats for mollusks, crustaceans, and worms.
© Greg Baker / Macaulay LibraryWaikato, March 30, 2017Breeding male
Birds in the “European” subspecies group have a mostly white rump, with the white extending up onto the back, and whitish underwings.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryFinnmark, June 14, 2015Breeding adult
Birds in the “Siberian” subspecies group have heavy barring on the rump and underwings.
© Kelly Kirkpatrick / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, May 28, 2024Nonbreeding adult
Occurs on mudflats or sand flats along bays, estuaries, and ocean shorelines.
© Ryan Schain / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, August 04, 2012Similar SpeciesBlack-tailed Godwit
Breeding adult
Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits’ ranges overlap in parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Black-tailed Godwit has longer legs and a straighter bill than Bar-tailed Godwit. Breeding adult Black-tailed Godwit has barring on the lower breast and white belly, while breeding male Bar-tailed Godwit has completely unbarred rufous underparts.
© Christoph Moning / Macaulay LibraryNiedersachsen, April 22, 2023Similar SpeciesBlack-tailed Godwit
Juvenile
Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit has a cinnamon neck and rufous-and-black upperparts, versus buffy checkered upperparts in juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit.
© Alfonso Rodrigo / Macaulay LibraryCastilla y León, August 17, 2021Similar SpeciesBlack-tailed Godwit
Nonbreeding adult
Nonbreeding Black-tailed Godwit has plain grayish-brown upperparts, lacking the streaked appearance of Bar-tailed Godwit's upperparts.
© Thibaud Aronson / Macaulay LibraryAnuradhapura, January 11, 2015Similar SpeciesBlack-tailed Godwit
Nonbreeding adult
In flight, Black-tailed Godwit shows a bold white stripe on the upperwing and a broad black band on the tip of the tail, both lacking in Bar-tailed Godwit.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryOromia, December 28, 2014Similar SpeciesHudsonian Godwit
Breeding male
Breeding male Hudsonian Godwit has heavily barred, dark chestnut underparts, as opposed to the unmarked rufous underparts of male Bar-tailed Godwit.
© Andy Bankert / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, May 04, 2020Similar SpeciesHudsonian Godwit
Breeding female
Breeding female Hudsonian Godwit is more heavily barred below than female Bar-tailed Godwit.
© Wentao Yang / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, June 09, 2024Similar SpeciesHudsonian Godwit
Juvenile
Juvenile Hudsonian Godwits have much plainer upperparts than the heavily checkered juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit.
© Dorian Anderson / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, October 18, 2019Similar SpeciesHudsonian Godwit
Nonbreeding adult
Nonbreeding Hudsonian Godwit is very plain gray overall, lacking the streaked upperparts and breast of nonbreeding Bar-tailed Godwit.
© Michel Gutierrez / Macaulay LibraryAtacama, February 20, 2021Similar SpeciesHudsonian Godwit
Nonbreeding adult
In flight, Hudsonian Godwit differs from Bar-tailed Godwit in having black underwing coverts, white flashes in the upperwing, and a broad black band at the tip of the tail.
© David M. Bell / Macaulay LibraryGalápagos, November 19, 2019Similar SpeciesMarbled Godwit
Breeding adult
Bar-tailed and Marbled Godwits’ ranges normally do not overlap, but Bar-tailed Godwit is a vagrant to the North American coasts where Marbled Godwit spends the nonbreeding season. Breeding Marbled Godwit has heavily barred buffy underparts, which both breeding male and female Bar-tailed Godwit lack.
© Jeff Timmons / Macaulay LibraryFlorida, June 22, 2017Similar SpeciesMarbled Godwit
Nonbreeding adult/immature
Marbled Godwit is larger and longer-legged than Bar-tailed Godwit. Nonbreeding/immature Marbled Godwit is much more colorful than nonbreeding/immature Bar-tailed Godwit, and is further distinguished from nonbreeding Bar-tailed by its heavily marked upperparts.
© Frank Lehman / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, September 02, 2016Similar SpeciesMarbled Godwit
Nonbreeding adult/immature
In flight, Marbled Godwit has rich cinnamon underwing coverts and upperwing patches, unlike anything found in any Bar-tailed Godwit plumage.
© Dorian Anderson / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, October 25, 2018Compare with Similar Species
Click on an image to compare
Species in This Family
Sandpipers and Allies(Order: Charadriiformes, Family: Scolopacidae)
More to Read
Don't miss a thing! Join our email list
The Cornell Lab will send you updates about birds,
birding, and opportunities to help bird conservation.