HUGOS

[Four of five Hudsonian Godwits with Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and dowitchers at Forsythe NWR, NJ this afternoon. Bad light and distant, sorry - if you have a hard time finding them, concentrate on the ones with the pale-based, upturned bills. Hudwits are not much bigger than a Greater Yellowlegs - they're the smallest godwit - and can blend with flocks of other species. These are molting adults, showing a lot of gray winter plumage feathers but note the retained orangy feathers on the breast and belly of the center-left bird, in particular. Click to enlarge photo.]

HUGO is the banding code for Hudsonian Godwit, and I guess I can stop my grumbling about them. Hudsonian Godwits have been reported with some regularity at Forsythe NWR, NJ this summer/fall, including a remarkable 50 (!!) seen by my friend Scott Barnes and part of a NJ Audubon field trip in August. Understand, I work at Forsythe, and drive the tour road looking for birds after work at least once a week, plus occasional quick swings around the 8 mile loop during lunchtime, so you'd figure I'd eventually see one. It paid off tonight. Most Hudsonian Godwits migrate offshore, but I had a hunch that the northeasterlies of yesterday and this morning might put some on land.