Hudsonian Godwit! 9/27/2023

September is a great time to see unusual birds that are moving through on their way from their northern Arctic breeding grounds to their southern wintering grounds. The northern third of Plymouth Long Beach is a great place to catch some of these migrants, and I was lucky to be able to see some very unique birds last week. One was a Hudsonian Godwit which is a unique looking bird with an upturned bill used for probing in the surf sand for small invertebrates. An Arctic breeder, the Hudsonian is very rare to see in Massachusetts and this single bird was hanging out with the Red Knots and Black-billed Plovers that were much more numerous. The Hudsonian Godwit was always easy to pick out because of that crazy bill and it is a much taller shorebird. It would routinely move from the high tide roosting site on the bay side of the beach to the ocean side and would then wait for Brown's Bank to open up to go feed. What a gorgeous bird and a lifer!