Today (Sunday, 10/26) my wife, Jane Hadley, and I found a HUDSONIAN GODWIT at high tide at the Tokeland marina. It was in among the 800+ MABLED GODWITS that were roosting on the abandoned dock along Kindred St. Alan Richards and Ann Musche joined us about an hour and a half after we found the bird and also saw it.

We first saw it fly into the marina by itself at about 12:30 pm. High tide was at at 12:45. It landed in among the Marbleds that were already roosting. All the Godwits stayed on the same dock for about an hour, then about half, including the Hudsonian, flew to the dock next to the boat ramp where they remained for about 30 minutes. This group then returned to the original dock and the one adjacent. After another 30 minutes or so, at 2:45, several groups left the docks and we lost sight of the Hudsonian.

In the air we could see the black and white tail, the dark underwing, and the gray back and upper wings with a thin white wing stripe. We were fortunate to observe the bird at close range while it was on the dock. It was smaller than the Marbled Godwits, had a shorter, slightly upcurved bill with a pink base and a black tip. It was gray overall. The chest was light gray and the belly white. There was a distinct, white supercilium on an otherwise plain, gray face. The back and wings were gray. There was some brownish speckling/streaking in the back and wings and also on the very top of the head. It was generally active while on the dock, constantly pecking at the larger Marbleds around it. We could often see the black tail with a very fine fringe of white on the tip and the white uppertail coverts. This was the first Hudsonian I've seen.

Randy Robinson
Seattle, WA.
rrobins AT eudoramail.com




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