Hudsonian Godwit Twitch

 

Hudsonian Godwit

Two days ago, May 25, birding gun Andy Jensen found a Hudsonian Godwit at a high tide roost off the end of Gregory Road, Mango Hill, in the northern suburbs of Brisbane (within the boundaries of Moreton Bay Regional Council). The bird was seen by a handful of people at the roost around midday before flying off to feed in nearby Hays Inlet.

In flight

The godwit was subsequently seen that afternoon from a platform on the fishing bridge that is the old Hornibrook Highway/Bridge, and on sandflats off the end of Haysmouth Parade, at the northern end of the bridge.

I saw the first Hudsonian Godwit found in Australia, by Chris Corben in Newcastle in 1982, and had not seen the species since in Australia. As far as I’m aware, Andy’s is the first sight record of this vagrant for Queensland; Australia's first recorded Hudsonian Godwit was collected in 1910 on the Great Barrier Reef. So I joined a goodly number of birders at the high tide roost mid-to-late-morning yesterday, May 26 (see Andy’s post on Facebook in South-East Queensland Birders for directions).

Fingers crossed at the high tide roost

The roost is a bit of a slog through sloppy mud. The bird was distant, settled among a flock of about 100 Bar-tailed Godwits and an assortment of Pied Stilts, Pied Oystercatchers, Far Eastern Curlews and other shorebirds. It could be seen readily enough through a scope, but too far for images.

Footprints in the mud. All roads lead to...

A nice first summer male by the looks of it, clearly darker and smaller than the Bar-tailed Godwits, with a fine flourish of breeding plumage colour – shared by just one or two of the Bar-taileds. No Black-tailed Godwits were present. Flushed by a Whistling Kite around midday, the godwits flew off in an easterly direction and did not return. So it was off to Hays Inlet to wait for the tide to drop and hopefully, for the bird to appear on sandflats to feed.

Which it did around 2pm - 2.5 hours after high tide - about 300m west of the end of Haysmouth Parade. It fed reasonably close to some of us who were there, accompanied by a dozen Bar-tailed Godwits before the flock was flushed by a dog. The birds flew east to settle on the water edge below the bridge’s northern end.

Hudsonian Godwit with Bar-tailed Godwit

There were plenty of people wandering the sandflats and fishing on this lovely sunny day but the birds did not appear to be overly concerned or flighty, dogs and raptors notwithstanding.

Hudsonian Godwit (centre bird, below the vehicle) graces Hornibrook Highway

We were able to watch it at quite close quarters for the best part of an hour. Features visible while feeding included the relatively bold supercilium, breeding plumage rufous extending to the belly, the smallish amount of black on the tail and the ever so slightly upturned but quite straight bill. 

Hudsonian Godwit with Pied Stilts

Unfortunately it didn’t raise a wing during the frenetic feeding but distinctive features – black underwing coverts and a small but obvious white upper wing bar – could be picked up in flight.

The flock was eventually flushed, again by a Whistling Kite, and disappeared into the bright mid-afternoon sunlight east of the bridge, appearing to scatter in small groups. It was doubtlessly still in the general area when I left around 4pm. It looks as though this will be the best area to get reasonably close to the bird, ideally on a falling tide. Given the time of year – late May – it is likely the godwit will not be heading north to breed and may be around for a while.