A muddy call
Now is the time of year when the waders are pairing up and the males in particular have a flesh plumage that looks spotless and presentable. Some waders such as the Spotted Redshank take on a black colour giving them a look that really makes them stand out, and from seeing them in the nonbreeding season you would never think it was the same species. The marshes will be full of bird call as the waders pair up, males chasing off rival males, and territorial disputes over nest sites filling the marshes with a variety of harsh calls. Soon things will calm down, and amongst all of this there are the migrants passing through such as the Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa), especially in the marshes.
The name Limosa is from Latin and means ‘muddy’ – from limus (mud), and the English name ‘godwit’ was first recorded in around 1416 and is believed to imitate the bird’s call. The main diet is invertebrates, but aquatic plants are also eaten during winter and when on migration. In the breeding season the diet gets more varied and can include beetles, grasshoppers, mayflies, dragonflies, caterpillars, flies, molluscs and annelid worms. When feeding on the edges of the marshes prey can also include fish eggs, frogspawn and tadpoles, and these items are often consumed when passing through Mallorca on migration as they give the bird valuable fuel before the next stage of its journey. When feeding in water the common feeding method is to probe vigorously, sometimes up to 36 times a minute and often with the head completely submerged. On land, they probe into soft mud and also pick prey items from the surface.
The voice is a very excited nasal ‘kee-weewee-wee’ call. The length is 36 – 44 cm with a wingspan of 70 – 80 cm and a weight of 230 –
400 g. In breeding plumage, the head and neck is a brick-red colour and the upperparts and chest are mottled with black, chestnut and grey, with the colours forming broken bars on the upper chest. The underside is mostly grey-white. The amounts of red can be variable and some adult females are almost grey in summer. Winter birds on passage will be a pale grey above and grey-white below.
In flight, all ages show a half black and half white tail, white wing bars and a trailing black edge to the wing. When groups are in flight this is a good opportunity to look for ones without a wing bar which will signify a Bar-tailed Godwit mixed in. They have long legs which enable them to wade in deep water, walking slowly forward with the bill held vertically down and making short stabs, and then suddenly probe deeply, emerging with the prey which is swallowed immediately. Remarkable birds.
Bird guide to Mallorca and the Eurasian Hoopoe available via https://www.nhbs.com/t he-eurasian-hoopoebook Private bird guiding, photography and plant sites via wildmajorca@gmail.com