Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)

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A Field Guide to Eastern Birds. by Roger Tory Peterson.

Return to Eastern Shorebirds

Color Photograph: © by an courtesy of Robert Benson

Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of John Cassady

Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)

Identification: Length from tip of bill to tip of tail 18 inches. A large shorebird. Back and wings brown mottled with white. Head with a brown crown, a diffuse white band over the eye, and a dark line through the eye. Bill long, narrow, and curved upward. Basal two-thirds pink to orange with the apex black. Throat, breast, and undersides dirty white, lightly streaked with brown. Underside of wing with wing lining rusty-brown.

Similar Species:  The Marbled Godwit is easily distinguished from either the Long-billed Curlew or the Whimbrel by its long, upcurved bill. The winter plumage of the Hudsonian Godwit has a wide, white band at the base of the tail.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Godwit breeds in the southern Prairie Provinces of Canada and the northern Great Plains of the United States.

Overwintering Range:  This species overwinters along the southern Atlantic Coast, the Gulf Coast, and along the Pacific Coast of the United States.

Habitat: The Marbled Godwit is found in prairie and other grasslands during the breeding season. Wintering birds are found on tidal mudflats, in salt marshes, and on beaches.

Food: Insects during the breeding season, but marine invertebrates are the primary food of overwintering birds.

Behavior:  The Marbled Godwit is ideally camouphlaged for its life among the grasses. The voice is a loud god-wit or kerreck.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of 4 brown-spotted olive-tan eggs. The eggs are laid in a ground depression lined with grass.