Limosa haemastica (Hudsonian godwit) 

Amerikaanse griet [Afrikaans]; Hudsonbaaigriet [Afrikaans]; rode grutto [Dutch]; Barge rousse [French]; Pfuhlschnepfe [German]; Fuselo do Hudson [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Charadriiformes > Family: Scolopacidae

Hudsonian godwit, California, USA. [photo Jeff Poklen ©]	Hudsonian godwit, California, USA. [photo Jeff Poklen ©]

Distribution and habitat

Breeds in western Alaska and Hudson Bay, Canada, heading south in the non-breeding season to the coastal mudflats and pampas marshes of South America, while it is a rare vagrant to western Europe, Australia and southern Africa. Here it has been recorded three times: at Swartkops River estuary, Eastern Cape from March-April 1986, Langebaan Lagoon, Western Cape in February and September 1990 and Berg River, Western Cape in the summer of 1990-1991. It generally prefers coastal mudflats, marshes and saltpans, often associating with other godwits.

Food 

It mainly eats polychaete worms, doing most of its foraging in shallow water, repeatedly probing the soft mud.

References

• Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.