© 2007 Barry W. Van Dusen ...Science Art-Birds

Title: Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa limosa) (L. l. islandica)
Artist: Barry W. Van Dusen (for further information, click on the artist's name)
Image size: 10" x 13"
Media: transparent watercolor
Date: August, 2007
Collection of the Artist

The artist notes: "While installing an exhibition at the Slimbridge Wetlands Center in southwestern Englandin the summer of 2007, I had time to do some fieldwork on the grounds of the reserve. I especially enjoyed working from a blind overlooking a pond that attracts a variety of migrating waterfowl and waders. In early August, one of the most abundant shorebirds was the Black-tailed Godwit. A large flock of more than sixty birds could usually be found loafing and feeding in the pond shallows. I was at first puzzled by the variations of plumage among the godwits, but later realized that I was painting a mixed group of two different races. The right-hand bird in my picture is a member of the Icelandicsubspecies (Limosa l. islandica) and shows the deep rusty-red underparts that extend into the belly, while the left-hand bird is of the European subspecies (Limosa l. limosa). Both birds are in transitional plumage, with many basic plumage feathers (gray) growing in on the back and wings."  

The Icelantic subspecies compromises a single population, intermixinging throughout the southern part of its non-breeding range with western populations of European subspecies. (A third subspecies is found half-way around the world). Estimates suggest that the global Black-tailed population may have declined by perhaps one-third in the last couple of decades. While these shorebirds are hunted in some areas and expanding in others, they are classified as Near Threatened (Vulnerable in the EU). They are increasingly at risk to habitat loss, especially in response to drainage, agricultural practices, fragmentation, and global climate change. But determining the vulnerability of these birds is complicated. For example, as of 2005, the Icelandic subspecies was increasing in number, but it was expanding into poorer quality breeding habitat as well as poorer quality winter habitat--a pattern we are likely to see repeated as sea level rises.