Tweeters,

In the last couple days (8/3-4) we've watched a small godwit at great
scope distances at Dungeness Bay, feeding and roosting with obviously
larger Marbled Godwits. It spends its time near the mouth of the
Dungeness River, visible by scope from Dungeness Landing Park, aka
the Dungeness Oysterhouse. The area is inaccessible private land,
blocked by muddy sloughs and tidal channels, so it's tough to get
close to the bird. The area may be accessible by kayak at just the
right tide.

Our sightings have been from long distances, usually in poor light,
so plumage details have been difficult or impossible to see. The
bird is clearly smaller than the MAGOs so we've been very tempted to
call it a Bar-tailed, but since we haven't seen any distinct markings
at such a long distance (oftentimes with heat waves and backlighting)
we hesitated to make the call. The bird is about 3/4ths the size of
the other godwits, but still with a nice long recurved bill. It has
shorter legs so it sometimes stands in water to its belly while the
other godwits right next to it show some leg above the water. The
Marbled Godwits also vary in size amongst themselves, showing the
usual sexual dimorphism, but the bird in question is clearly a size
smaller than the rest. Must be a Bar-tailed, right?

We finally saw it fly today in reasonably good light, allowing us
brief glimpses of its tail and back patterns. To our surprise, from
a distance its tail and back appeared pretty much identical to the
MAGOs flying with it, with the usual brownish cinnamon. The wings
looked like the usual MAGO brownish cinnamon as well. We couldn't
see any obvious barring in the tail, and it was definitely not black
and white like either Hudsonian or Black-tailed. On the surface this
bird's plumage appeared about the same as the MAGOs, even though it
was clearly a smaller proportioned bird. Occasionally it looked like
it had a lighter belly when standing on the mud, leading us to think
Bar-tailed, but at other times it appeared to be the spitting image
of the other Marbled Godwits nearby, just 3/4ths size. Do runt
Marbled Godwits exist? Or do some female Bar-taileds in fading
breeding plumage look this similar to Marbleds?

If anyone else is in the vicinity, give it a look - I'll try to get
closer tomorrow.

Lots of other shorebirds in the area -- the usual plovers,
dowitchers, and sandpipers, plus one Red Knot in faded alternate
plumage near the godwits today, numbers of striking Ruddy Turnstones,
a Lesser Yellowlegs yesterday at Helen's Pond, a Semipalmated
Sandpiper feeding with other sandpipers at a nearby puddle, and a
couple Baird Sandpipers feeding at a puddle south of the 3 Crabs
restaurant.

Bob Boekelheide
Sequim











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