A Marbled Godwit discovered and photographed today (23 April 2015) in Burke’s
Garden of Tazewell County by Clancey Deel is one of the most rare
spring shorebird records in Southwest Virginia’s history.
Deel took the photo shown above at 10:16 a.m. along the shoreline of the MBC
Ranch Pond located at the end of Litz Lane which is in the Southwest area of
the valley.
Marbled Godwits are extremely rare away from the Atlantic Costal Plains of the
state where they are mostly found.
In Northeast Tennessee, just two records are known for the species (as far as I
know) and both are April encounters – 2001 at Musick’s Campground (Spring
Creek area of South Holston Lake in Sullivan Co., TN) and 2002 at Austin
Springs on Boone Lake.
As far as I know, all other observations in the region are fall finds.
This very large shorebird prefer marshy grasslands and wet prairie habitats
during the breeding season but spend winters on coastal mudflats, wetlands and
beaches.
In summer, they breed in central southern Canada from eastern Alberta to
western Manitoba and as far south as central Montana and throughout South
Dakota. An isolated
breeding population is also found at the southern tip of Hudson Bay. In winter,
Marbled Godwits migrate to both the Pacific and Atlantic
coasts where they range from Virginia to Florida.
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
