Towards sunset this evening, Betsy Bangert and I observed what
was presumably a Hudsonian Godwit on Skimmer Island. The bird was observed
actively feeding on the West side of the island with a mixed group of
shorebirds including 8 Marbled Godwits, 1 Red Knot, Sanderlings, Ruddy
Turnstones, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Semipalmated Sandpipers for about
20 minutes. Shorebird viewing was rather poor, however, due to a lack of
sunlight and a healthy congregation of terns present on the mudflat,
obscuring our views of the godwits.
The bird had a long, thin, slightly upturned bill, and was a little
shorter/smaller than the Marbled Godwits. It had an overall gray
appearance (with some patterning to back) but was possibly still in late
stages of body molt. It had whitish supraloral areas and a whitish throat.
It had a light belly that had a somewhat sharp line between the grayish
chest and paler belly. We never saw the bird fly and eventually lost sight
of it behind the flock of resting terns it was feeding behind. I put up a
terrible photo on my flickr site with a link below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeburchett/
In the photo, it is the large shorebird all the way to the left next to the
Tricolored Heron.
Mike Burchett
Ocean Pines, MD
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