Marbled Godwit

Two Marbled Godwits Visit Riverview

Marbled Godwits

Two Marbled Godwits have been visiting Riverview marsh for over a week now.  Since they were discovered, they have drawn birders from near and far.  When I visited a few days ago they were feeding heavily fairly close to the dike edge that crosses the marsh from Point Park Drive area.  They were exciting to watch and paid very little attention to the 3 birders present.  There were almost enough godwits to call them a 'prayer of godwits', a name used sometimes for a group of these birds.  

Godwits are classed in the genus, Limosa, with the Marbled Godwit being Limosa fedoa.  Godwits  are large shorebirds with long legs and long upturned bills.  They feed by probing the mud while standing in water or along the shoreline.  There are four species of godwits which occur in North America.  Marbled and Hudsonian Godwits can be found here but Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits are very rare visitors usually to other parts of North America.  Black-tailed Godwits are seen occasionally in Newfoundland.

Marbled Godwit

Godwits are so-named after their vocal rendition of god-wit.  Marbled Godwit vocals are hoarser than other godwits and usually say something like kaaWEK or ker-ret.  They are an easy shorebird to identify.  Because of their large size (46 cm/ 18 in long), they stand out in a flock of smaller shorebirds.  They are often seen wading and feeding in the water, probing deeply in the mud with their long bills sometimes even with their head under water.  They are, in fact, the largest and most widespread godwit.  They are not common here because they are mainly a western species, normally breeding in the prairie provinces and southward into the Dakotas and Minnesota.  They winter on the southern coasts of eastern and western North America into Mexico.  

Specifically, what do they look like?  As you can see in the photo above, they are a tawny colour. Their plumage varies from breeding to non-breeding seasons.  The birds shown above are in non-breeding plumage which is much less barred on the sides and breast than the breeding plumage.  The main feature of a godwit is its long upturned bill.  In the Marbled Godwit it is pink at the base and black at the tip.  The female sometimes has a longer bill than the male, but both have long bills!  The dorsal body areas are mottled dark brown with tan as the dark feather centres are edged with tan.  The long legs are dark in colour and covered in blue-grey hair (seen only with the bird in hand).  The female is larger than the male.  Winter (non-breeding) adults become less barred and grayer.  When Marbled Godwits fly they show their cinnamon-coloured wing linings.  This is an identifying feature which separates them from all the other godwit species.  

The only other godwit you would likely have to distinguish the Marbled Godwit from here in New Brunswick is the Hudsonian Godwit which occurs regularly here in small numbers each fall.  You wouldn't mistake them because the Hudsonian Godwit is smaller, has dark wing-linings and a narrow white wing stripe which is remarkable in flight.  A Long-billed Curlew which is very rare here has a similar colouration to the Marbled Godwit but is larger and has a very long decurved bill (curved downward).

Marbled Godwit

Marbled Godwits nest on grassy plains and meadows near ponds and lakes.  Their nest is a slight depression in the ground lined with grass.  They lay 3 to 5 green to olive eggs marked with brown.  Both adults share the task of incubation.  It is reported that this species is not easily flushed from its nest and incubating adults can sometimes be picked up from the nest without startling them.  After breeding season the birds head to the coasts where they often feed in salt marshes, tidal creeks and other muddy coastal areas.  

Birding for shorebirds is a fun and rewarding activity this time of year.  Viewing the large flocks of migating birds gives one a wonderful feeling of how wonderful nature is and how neatly all the migration paths of millions of birds fit together and how the landscape manages to feed and shelter them all.  It is too good a season to miss.