The primary moult of Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosa scored from digital photographs

Post-breeding moult of primaries in the two Western European subspecies of Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa limosa and L. l. islandica, is not well described, especially for islandica. We analysed the primary moult in both subspecies at the Hauener Pütten nature reserve, Germany, using digital photographs. To compare the local moult patterns with moult patterns of islandica at other sites in Europe, photos from freely accessible internet databases were also analysed. All data were analysed with the Underhill-Zucchini maximum likelihood method. We describe the first known moulting site of islandica in Germany. The birds at Hauener Pütten assigned to limosa began their moult on 12 June ± 11 days; their moult lasted an average of 96 days. The birds assigned to islandica started moult on 1 July ± 23 days; their moult lasted an average of 108 days. According to our study, islandica in Western Europe start their primary moult two and a half weeks later than limosa elsewhere and take on average twelve days longer to finish it.