Creature Feature: Marbled Godwit

The Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa) is a large migratory bird in the sandpiper family.
 
They breed in shortgrass prairies near wetlands during the summer and migrate to forage along coastal mudflats, estuaries, and sandy beaches during the winter.
 
Their main diet consists of aquatic invertebrates, earthworms, insects, aquatic plant tubers, leeches, and small fish. On mudflats or in marshes they probe into sand or mud with their long bills for aquatic invertebrates, often wandering so deeply into the water that their heads are submerged. On prairies they pluck insects from plants or the surface of the ground.
 
 
Marbled Godwits nest in loose colonies. They make their nests on the ground in shortgrass prairies, often far from water and with little overhead plant cover. Males make several shallow depressions in the ground with their feet and the female chooses which one to lay the eggs in.
 
At the beginning of the breeding season males put on a show to attract a mate. They fly up to 300 feet above the ground and circle their territory, flying with slow wingbeats and calling.
 
While Marbled Godwit populations are not in immediate danger, their numbers were reduced by market hunting during 19th century and, though they’ve had some recovery since, they are now declining again as more of their nesting habitat is converted to farmland.
 
Sources: Marbled Godwit–all about birds, Audobon, and wikipedia
 
Photos: Stan Lupo, Trish Hartmann, and Diana Robinson on Flickr