Phyllis Yochem: Veteran birders spot rare sight
It was late afternoon, and Mel Cooksey was birding the "Blind Oso," adjacent to the Island University campus. Amid a flock of approximately 125 marbled godwits was a paler bird. Cooksey focused his scope on the dissonant godwit, and dictated field notes to his recorder.
"I have a strange godwit, very pale godwit, looks like size like marbled ... very whitish head, underparts are whitish, with rufous splotches, from the undertail coverts to the sides of the breast."
He continues with detailed observations, interspersed with his speculations and questions.
"The bird is about 150 yards from me. It's about 7:20, August 9, 2014, Cayo del Oso."
He consulted with Martin Reid and Willie Sekula, birding colleagues that he refers to as the "San Antonio Bird Think Tank." Both confirmed Cooksey's identification, and Reid's thought was that the individual was a molting adult.
The bird that stood out from the crowd was a bar-tailed godwit, widespread in the Old World, where it breeds on the lowland tundra of Siberia and Scandinavia. In the New World, it is found only in its limited North American breeding territory in western Alaska. Individuals are rare visitors on the Atlantic coast, recorded approximately once a year. This is the first recorded sighting of the species in Texas.
Bar-tailed godwits that breed in western Siberia and Scandinavia spend winters along the coast of western Europe, the west coast of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and western India. But the subspecies that breed in Alaska and eastern Siberia winter in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Known as the kuaka in New Zealand, the bird figures prominently in a Maori legend telling how their ancestors discovered the island they called Aotearoa. South Sea islanders had observed the birds on their annual southward migration each year. Since the kuaka wasn't a seabird, they reasoned that it must end its journey at a land as yet undiscovered.
In seagoing canoes, they followed the birds' flight path across the South Pacific until they saw a large, low hanging cloud on the horizon. They correctly guessed that it hovered above a sizable land mass. They were the first humans to set foot on "the land of the long, white cloud."
Bar-tailed godwits are the only bird known to fly more than 7,000 miles nonstop. Rather than quickly crossing the North Pacific and traveling down the Asian coastline, the birds that breed in Alaska, the baueri race, head out over the Pacific and don't stop until they reach New Zealand.
Preparing for their marathon flight, they eat a rich diet of clams, worms, seeds and berries to double their body weight. Their intestines and gizzard shrink to make room for more fat. Unable to rest or fish at sea, they take advantage of favorable storm winds to boost them in the right direction. Averaging approximately 35 mph, their long haul takes roughly eight days.
Nowhere in the flight plan is there mention of the Texas coast. To look for this solo wanderer, start at Hans Suter Park. Walk north on the Ennis Joslin sidewalk until you cross the inflow canal and the pipe rail ends. Follow the path that leads down to the Oso flats. Then walk directly east to the water's edge, about a quarter of a mile. A spotting scope would be helpful for searching through the gathered shorebirds.
Phyllis Yochem, a Corpus Christi resident, has studied birds in Texas since 1960.
Phyllis Yochem Archive
- Oct 17, 2016 | A tour of the bays and estuaries
- Oct 10, 2016 | An afternoon road trip to Rockport
- Oct 3, 2016 | Waterfoul make way to Texas
- Sep 26, 2016 | An afternoon at Hazel Bazemore
- Sep 18, 2016 | Celebration of Flight at Hazel Bazemore
- Sep 12, 2016 | Celebrate fluttering feathered friends
- Sep 5, 2016 | Bullbats come out at twilight
- Aug 29, 2016 | Yellow-breasted chat arrives for fall
- Aug 22, 2016 | Birthday, birding and Big Bend
- Aug 14, 2016 | HawkWatch is back
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