Exploring Nature: Hudsonian Godwit

Birds never cease to amaze me.

Consider, for example, the Hudsonian godwit. Named after the Canadian bay where the species was first identified, and for the bird’s two-syllable cry (“god-wiiit”), this bird breeds each spring in Alaska where it lays its eggs in marshy bogs.

In June or July, godwits leave Alaska and fly south. Way south. First, they fly to Canada and feed for a month to fatten up. Then they continue through the Americas to the northern Amazon.

After feeding at various sites in South America, come spring, the godwit flies some 6,000 miles, at between 29 and 50 miles per hour, not stopping for food or drink. The bird flies night and day for about a week before arriving at wetlands in the United States — mainly Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas and Oklahoma.

After a short stay, the godwit flies back to Alaska. The bird’s goal is to stay in warm places with adequate food throughout the year. They prefer an endless summer.

Sleek and reddish brown and gold in its breeding plumage, the Hudsonian godwit has skinny, stilt-like legs and a long, upturned bill perfect for feeding in the mud. An adult bird weighs about 12 ounces.

In the course of a year, the adult godwit will fly some 16,000 miles round-trip. Amazingly, it can fly night and day without stopping to rest or eat or drink, for about a week.

It survives without sleep by alternatively shutting down half its brain at a time. It gets its energy from stored fat, which also metabolizes into water for drinking.

Next time you gain a few pounds, console yourself by remembering that if you decide to migrate, that stored fat will come in handy.