Birds

A Marbled Godwit Foraging Near Seal Rock San Francisco

December 16, 2015 by Larry 1 Comment

The Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa) in the photo above, shown landing at Fort De Soto County Park in Pinellas County, Florida, is used with permission from my friend Mia McPherson of On The Wing Photography fame. I didn’t get a shot of the Marbled Godwit near Seal Rocks in flight but I wanted you to be able to see the bird with wings outstretched so Mia came to my rescue. It’s nice to have friends that are excellent wildlife photographers 😉

The Marbled Godwit breeds in the grasslands of the northern United States and southern Canada, with small isolated nesting populations in southwestern James Bay and Alaska¹. Click on photos for full sized images.

Marbled Godwit Range Map

During the winter on coastal sites, they mainly forage on tidal sandflats and sandy beach. This bird was one I found near Seal Rock when scouting the Heermann’s Gulls back in October.

It was foraging in the shallow waters along with a couple Long-billed Curlews (Numenius americanus) …

a few Black Oystercatchers (Haematopus bachmani) …

and some Black Turnstones (Arenaria melanocephala).

Of course there were some scuffles with the Heermann’s Gulls snatching their hard earned catch.

The Curlew finally chased the gull off and continued to forage in peace.

During all this excitement, the Marbled Godwit …

continued foraging …

leisurely …

and uninhibited.

References: ¹Birds of North America Online,

Written by Larry

Larry Jordan was introduced to birding after moving to northern California where he was overwhelmed by the local wildlife, forcing him to buy his first field guide just to be able to identify all the species visiting his yard. Building birdhouses and putting up feeders brought the avian fauna even closer and he was hooked. Larry wanted to share his passion for birds and conservation and hatched The Birder's Report in September of 2007. His recent focus is on bringing the Western Burrowing Owl back to life in California where he also monitors several bluebird trails. He is a BirdLife Species Champion and contributes to several other conservation efforts, being the webmaster for Wintu Audubon Society and the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Urban Bird Foundation. He is now co-founder of a movement to create a new revenue stream for our National Wildlife Refuges with a Wildlife Conservation Pass.