I did hear mention this morning that one of the godwits seen yesterday caused a bit of confusion.
The godwit that I saw this morning was definitely a Marbled Godwit (to my dismay). After having troubling views early in the morning I was later able to see the bird in flight multiple times. The wings were mostly uniform underneath with no black and I didn't see a white patch on the rump. When I saw the bird at closer range the coloration matched that of the Sibley guide for the Marbled. It did not seem to have very much barring on its belly, it was mostly plain buffy like a juvenile bird or a bird in non-breeding plumage. The pattern on the back matched guides perfectly for Marbled Godwit. One of the Hudsonians could well have stayed the night but the bird I saw this morning I have no doubt was a Marbled Godwit. Thank you very much for the post because there is always a chance of mistaking two species that are closely related. If someone did see a Hudsonian Godwit today please post the sighting because I would love to try again for this fantastic species. Jason Caddy South Minneapolis j.ca...@hotmail.com > Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 22:06:33 -0400 > From: drew...@aol.com > Subject: [mou-net] Godwits at Lake Byllesby > To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU > > Yesterday, in the company of Susan Schumacher, Conny Brunell, Tom Tustison > and Jim Otto, we were studying a group of 3 godwits at Lake Byllesby. Two > were obviously Hudsonians, and were in nice alternate plumage. Easy ID. The > third bird seemed larger, and was an overall light buffy and brown in color. > We were all certain it was a Marbled. That is until I noticed it shuffle its > wings and exposing its white rump and black tipped tail. > > > I didn't see the bird today, but I would like to raise the suggestion that > this bird may have remained overnight from the previous day. If the the bird > wasn't seen in flight today, or preening, there is a possibility it could > have been misidentified. Perhaps only a godwit species??? > > > Drew Smith > Eagan, Dakota County > > > > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html _________________________________________________________________ The New Busy is not the too busy. Combine all your e-mail accounts with Hotmail. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multiaccount&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_4 ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
