BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Limosa haemastica
Hudsonian Godwit
| Scientific Name: | Limosa haemastica (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Name: | Hudsonian Godwit | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | B-HUGO | ||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G4 (Apr 2016) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S1B (Mar 2022) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Red | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | Threatened (May 2019) | ||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | Y | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Breeding begins mid-May in west to early June in east (Harrison 1978). Usually 4 eggs are incubated for 22-23 days; eggs incubated by female during day, by male at night. Young precocial, tended by both parents until just before fledging (early August on Mackenzie Delta). | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: | NON-BREEDING: gregarious. | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
|
Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
N / N / Y / na / |
||||||||||
| Global Migration Comments: | Northward migration mainly through Texas and Louisiana and interior North America; usually reaches Texas in April; arrives in Beaufort Sea area late May-early June. Gathers in large flocks on western shores of Hudson and James bays prior to southward migration (to Maritime Provinces and New England, then southward by sea to southern South America, possibly with a stop somewhere in northern South America). Nonbreeders at Tierra del Fuego apparently derive from breeding grounds in central Canadian Arctic (Morrison and Ross 1989). Begins migration from northwestern Canada early to mid-August. | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
Agriculture / Cultivated Field / Facultative - occasional use
Agriculture / Hedgerow / Facultative - occasional use Agriculture / Pasture/Old Field / Facultative - occasional use Alpine/Tundra / Alpine/Subalpine Meadow / Unknown Alpine/Tundra / Tundra / Facultative - frequent use Grassland/Shrub / Meadow / Facultative - frequent use Grassland/Shrub / Shrub - Natural / Facultative - occasional use Lakes / Lake / Facultative - occasional use Lakes / Pond/Open Water / Facultative - occasional use Ocean / Intertidal Marine / Facultative - occasional use Other Unique Habitats / Beach / Facultative - occasional use Other Unique Habitats / Mudflats - Intertidal / Facultative - occasional use Riparian / Riparian Herbaceous / Facultative - occasional use Riparian / Riparian Shrub / Facultative - occasional use Wetland / Bog / Facultative - frequent use Wetland / Marsh / Facultative - frequent use |
||||||||||
| Global Habitat Comments: | BREEDING: Nests on grassy tundra, near water. Bogs and marshes. Near coast or river. Nests on the ground in a sparsely lined depression, in or under edge of prostrate dwarf birch or on dry top of hummock in sedge marsh. NON-BREEDING: marshes, beaches, flooded fields, and tidal mudflats (AOU 1983); lake and pond shores, inlets. | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Invertivore: Adult, Immature
|
||||||||||
| Global Food Habits Comments: | Feeds on marine worms, mollusks, and crustaceans. Probes deeply into mud. During the nesting season eats many insects (e.g., flies, mosquitoes). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Diurnal: Adult, Immature
|
||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
|||||||||||
| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 39/ / 305 | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
||||||||||
| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | BREEDING: locally in south-coastal Alaska, probably western Alaska, Mackenzie, northwestern British Columbia, around Hudson Bay. NON-BREEDING: in South America on the coast of Chile and from Paraguay, southern Brazil, and Uruguay south to Tierra del Fuego and Falkland Islands (AOU 1983). The most important areas are in Tierra del Fuego: Bahia San Sebastian, Argentina, on Atlantic coast of Tierra del Fuego; Bahia Lomas, at eastern mouth of Strait of Magellan; and Chiloe area of Pacific coast of Chile (Morrison and Ross 1989). MIGRATION: in spring, in North America from Texas and Louisiana north to Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the west side of Hudson Bay; rarely on Pacific Coast of Guatemala and Costa Rica. In fall, southeastward from James Bay to Maritimes and New England, then over water to wintering grounds (AOU 1983). | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Mar 24, 1994 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp. |
|||||||||||
Bent, A.C. 1927. Life histories of North American shorebirds (Part I). U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 142, Washington, D.C. |
|||||||||||
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, et al. 1990b. The Birds of British Columbia Vol. 2: Nonpasserines: Diurnal Birds of Prey through Woodpeckers. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC. |
|||||||||||
Carter, M., C. Hunter, D. Pashley, and D. Petit. 1998. The Watch List. Bird Conservation, Summer 1998:10. |
|||||||||||
Carter, M., G. Fenwick, C. Hunter, D. Pashley, D. Petit, J. Price, and J. Trapp. 1996. Watchlist 1996: For the future. Field Notes 50(3):238-240. |
|||||||||||
Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp. |
|||||||||||
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio. |
|||||||||||
Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater. 1986. Shorebirds: an identification guide to the waders of the world. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. |
|||||||||||
Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp. |
|||||||||||
Morrison, R. I. G., and R. K. Ross. 1989. Atlas of Nearctic shorebirds on the coast of South America. Vols. 1 and 2. Canadian Wildl. Serv. Spec. Publ. 325 pp. |
|||||||||||
Morrison, R. I. G., R. E. Gill, Jr., B. A. Harrington, S. Skagen, G. W. Page, C. L. Gratto-Trevor, and S. M. Haig. 2001. Estimates of shorebird populations in North America. Occasional Paper Number 104, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON. 64 pages. |
|||||||||||
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
|||||||||||
Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1994. Species Summary: Limosa haemastica. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Oct 3, 2026).