Hudsonian Godwit

How to find it

Think of wet, open ground where you can see the water. Flooded rice fields can host this godwit, but only when they are very wet. Scan shallow water and mud for a long, pink-based bill probing deep. At Chomes and Punta Morales Marbled Godwits are the common godwit, often 20 to 80 birds, so look for the odd small, dark godwit in the flock. If a bird takes off, check for the white rump, black tail and blackish underwing. Birds may leave within a day, so timing matters more than anything else.

How to recognise it

Start with the bill: long, slightly upturned and pink at the base. Breeding adults are rich chestnut below with black barring. In non-breeding plumage the bird is grey overall with a white belly.

In flight the marks stand out:

- white rump and upper tail

- black tail

- white stripe in the wing

- blackish underwing, the best mark for telling it from other godwits

In the air it holds its legs out past the tail, with neck and bill stretched forward.

What it sounds like

Recording: Dan MacNeal, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It feeds by walking through shallow water or mud, probing deep with its long, slightly upturned bill. That makes open, shallow wet ground the place to scan.

In flight it is swift and direct, with powerful wingbeats. The journey is the real story: tracking studies suggest most godwits cross Costa Rica in spring without landing, hopping from Colombia to lagoons on Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The few that do stop are the ones birders get to enjoy.

Where it lives

On migration this godwit uses many kinds of freshwater and saltwater habitat. In Costa Rica the records come from wet, open places around the Gulf of Nicoya, such as the shrimp ponds of Paquera and the salt ponds at Punta Morales. Flooded rice fields can also host it, but only when they are very wet and the wet area is visible.

When to see it

Dated Costa Rican sightings all fall in spring: 24 April 2014 at Chomes, 16 May 2020 at Paquera and 21 May of a later year at Punta Morales. Birders say a few probably stop each April or May.

Similar birds

The Marbled Godwit is the bird to rule out. It is larger and buffier, with cinnamon wing linings and a brownish, barred pattern. The Hudsonian is smaller and darker, grey in non-breeding plumage, with a white rump and upper tail and a black tail. Its call is also higher pitched.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican list uses Aguja Lomiblanca. Elsewhere other Spanish names are in use, including aguja café, aguja de Hudson, becasa de mar, barga aliblanca and picopando canelo.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican list marks it M, a migratory species, while the IUCN rates it Vulnerable worldwide because its population is small and its range is fragmented and localized.

Photography tips

Birds can leave on the very day they are found, so go quickly after a report, because the godwit may be gone by the next day. Look in open shallow wet ground, and watch for the pink-based bill probing deep.