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The time of the year is fast approaching when large flocks of marbled godwits appear for a few hours or a day in northern MN and the Lake Superior region. These birds are thought to be breeders from the James= Bay population in Ontario and Quebec with an estimated population of 2,000-3,000 birds (99% in ON). Their wintering grounds are unknown but= may be the SE USA coast or the western Gulf coast in Mexico and TX. A very= few birds have been color-banded on wintering sites. Please get a good estimate of any flocks seen and look carefully for color banded birds, paying close attention to leg placement and color schemes and report su= ch sightings to me and I'll relay the information. One banded godwit was recently sighted inland in NC and was likely banded in Georgia. Satell= ite collars attached to two godwits in late April at Bear River NWR, UT by researchers Adrian Farmer and Bridget Olson, have helped track these bi= rds to potential breeding sites in Alberta with one bird even photographed = on his territory. Areas where godwits have been seen in late May (most be= ween 17 May and 27 May) include Interstate Island at Duluth, Ashland and Lon= g Island (in the Apostles) in WI, and Roseau River State Wildife Area in = far northern MN. Bob Russell, US Fish and Wildife Service= --0__=09BBFBE3DFDF6ADC8f9e8a93df938690918c09BBFBE3DFDF6ADC Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Content-type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII Content-Disposition: inline <html><body> <p>The time of the year is fast approaching when large flocks of marble= d godwits appear for a few hours or a day in northern MN and the Lake S= uperior region. These birds are thought to be breeders from the James = Bay population in Ontario and Quebec with an estimated population of 2,= 000-3,000 birds (99% in ON). Their wintering grounds are unknown but m= ay be the SE USA coast or the western Gulf coast in Mexico and TX. A v= ery few birds have been color-banded on wintering sites. Please get a = good estimate of any flocks seen and look carefully for color banded bi= rds, paying close attention to leg placement and color schemes and repo= rt such sightings to me and I'll relay the information. One banded god= wit was recently sighted inland in NC and was likely banded in Georgia.= Satellite collars attached to two godwits in late April at Bear River= NWR, UT by researchers Adrian Farmer and Bridget Olson, have helped tr= ack these birds to potential breeding sites in Alberta with one bird ev= en photographed on his territory. Areas where godwits have been seen i= n late May (most beween 17 May and 27 May) include Interstate Island at= Duluth, Ashland and Long Island (in the Apostles) in WI, and Roseau Ri= ver State Wildife Area in far northern MN. Bob Russell, US Fish and Wi= ldife Service</body></html>= --0__=09BBFBE3DFDF6ADC8f9e8a93df938690918c09BBFBE3DFDF6ADC--
