Texas Birding: Elusive Bar-tailed Godwit Expedition

South Texas is known for its rare bird species, which sometimes includes long-range migrants such as Bar-tailed Godwits and far off vagrants such as the Cattle Tyrant. We drove up from the Rio Grande Valley in early February to try to find these two species near Corpus Christi, but ended up with more of a chase than we expected.
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Thanks to Terry Sohl for allowing us to use his range maps
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Bar-tailed Godwit in breeding plumage by Kristine Sowl, USFWS (Public Domain)
Bar-tailed Godwit in cover image by Becky Matsubara (CC by 2.0, edited)
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All other photos and videos by Derek and Ryan Sallmann
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[@lbeth6037]

You were with my parents!!!!! They are such passionate and talented birders...glad to see them pop up in your video ❤

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@lbeth6037 that’s so cool! They were both great!

[@csfsangle]

The hope meter is awesome, I love how is change each interview

[@Stukin_The_Pines]

So glad that your Hope Meter did not become a Nope Meter this time. Really enjoy your videos. I watch them a second time, with the closed caption option. Not because I need it, but because there often is humor in the way spoken words are converted into print. For example this video mentions a species that no one will ever see. The "long build curu". It goes right there on my list of never-to-be-seen birds, along with the "wide iberio".

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Haha 😂 yeah the auto generated captions are terrible with bird names

[@SteveEvansFilms]

Brilliant video. I remember flying from the UK to Denmark, Europe for a Glaucous-winged Gull, which had been feeding at a small pool in a park for weeks. I spent all day there and nothing! On the way back to the airport I drove past the harbour a noticed a huge flock of gulls. Thankfully, I decided to stop and was rewarded with excellent views of the gull. Those last minute stops are always worth it. Keep up the great work both👍

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Thanks! Always great to get a #lastminutelifer

[@NathanWebb-c5h]

Congratulations on your lifer bar-tailed godwit, Ryan!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Thank you kindly!

[@westhompson2340]

I had a very similar experience with this bird! I got to see it, the cattle tyrant, and flamingos in one day. Epic birding!

[@rgdodson]

That was a fun video! Nothing like getting a lifer at the last minute.

[@Beryllahawk]

Flock of Godwits, a far more exciting band to hear about than Flock of Seagulls, haha!! I'm really glad y'all managed to find it!!! Big hugs!!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@Beryllahawk haha! Tempted to make a band called “Flock of Godwits” now

[@cathco9]

Success! So exciting! I saw a Bar-tailed Godwit on June 18, 2023 at a location you guys visited back in the spring. It was at Edwin B. Forsythe Nat'l Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ on the 8 mile Wildlife Dr. loop. The bird hung in for a few days giving great looks to many birders. Congrats on the lifer!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@cathco9 that’s awesome!

[@morganpickering651]

I know when an American came over to here in Australia he was interested in our godwit slang, barwit for bar-tailed godwit, blackwit for black-tailed godwit, and hudwit for a hudsonian godwit. We don't get Marbled godwits here but I would presume you should call them Marwits. Sounds like he was going to take it back over and share this terminology. Congratulations on the lifer!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@morganpickering651 thanks! I’ve heard people say “Hudwits” before but the other ones are new to me!

[@mcs3015]

Congrats! What a lucky last-minute diversion 🪶

[@BadgerlandBirding]

It really was. Always pays to check that last spot, even if you've already been there like 4 times, haha

[@braydenpaulk5079]

My last minute lifer was a Great Gray Owl at Sax Zim Bog! I was with my family there all day and as we were about to leave I convinced them to drive down one last road. As we were driving along we saw something that looked like a stump on the side of the road, until it turned its head and we saw its big yellow eyes! It was stalking a black cat in the road and I got great views of it.

[@tvalkyrie]

💕 Congratulations! From 🧀 WI ! 😂

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Thank you!

[@bradabendroth4942]

I wasn’t particularly chasing anything but I stopped by a myre big island state park in southern Minnesota on the way down from The Twin Cities to my parents house in Iowa many years ago. It was getting dark and I had walked a few trails and was about to leave until I saw one trail I didn’t go down. I was hesitant but I took it and discovered a brown pelican on a log in the water amongst many American white pelicans. A last minute state lifer and it was still there the next morning for other birders to see.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@bradabendroth4942 awesome find!

[@ospr3y]

Interestingly, Texas has two Bar-tailed Godwit Records, both from the Corpus Christi area. The 2014 record was a European subspecies and this bird was a Siberian subspecies. As a Corpus local, I have had the privilege of seeing this particular bird numerous times, during its first winter (22-23) and its second winter (23-24), but every time was at Chatwork Park in San Pat County. Despite many attempts, I couldn't locate it in Nueces Bay, which would put it in my home county of Nueces. I'm hoping it returns for a third winter for my redemption!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Awesome! When I saw it the first time it was in the soccer fields, I believe Chatwork park. It was much easier there haha

[@GreatGray8790]

I have only seen Marbled and Hudsonian. Congratulations on the Godwit!

[@sw8471]

You're both lucky to be able to bird with your brother. Mine made the long migration from the US to Australia several years ago!

[@markshen3280]

Good morning to you from Hong Kong 🇭🇰 SAR. Did you know that the Cattle Tyrant in Brazil 🇧🇷 is called, ‘Suiriri-Cavaleiro’, and it is the only member of the genus Machetornis.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

I did not know that! How cool!

[@ABirdersParadise]

Congrats on the lifer! I had a last-minute lifer not too long ago with the White-faced Ibises (eBird rarity) I went looking for in July. I searched the marshy area on an auto tour route, and couldn't find them. I had completely given up hope of seeing them, but then, when we were almost to the end of the auto tour, I noticed that the NWR had a new marshy/pond area (I guess the staff created it because I don't recall having a lot of rain), and I searched it as much as possible with the heat waves making pictures turn out terrible. We were just driving off when I saw a few birds flying that looked unusual, so I zoomed in on those, and sure enough, they were the White-faced Ibises.

[@jimmosley3382]

Had a last minute lifer at BDANWR in NM. It was a Sungrebe in November 2008.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That’s an awesome LML

[@roshanchachane142]

We get to see these birds here in Central India quite often.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@roshanchachane142 so cool!

[@jtwanderer6328]

What a fun video! Really enjoy the Hope Meter ;-)

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Haha, glad to hear it! Maybe we'll include it in some future videos.

[@brittnyrv5087]

Ive seen Hudsonian and marbled in the coastal bend. Very cool 😊🎉

[@langofarias6010]

lOl, how ironic for an Australian birder like me... Bar-taileds are the easiest Godwit down here... Bar-tailed and Black-tail and I even got a Hudsonian once.... now if a Marble Godwit show up anywhere in the country I would drop everything to see it!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@langofarias6010 we’ll trade you!

[@ntw_Luke]

Lets goooooo!!! Way to go fellas

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Thank you!

[@dillonencinia2729]

Didn’t even know yall came this way last year. Cool beans!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

This was early February of 2024!

[@dillonencinia2729]

@@BadgerlandBirding if y’all ever need tips on where to go around here, let me know! we don’t have too many places like further down south in the valley but they can be real good.

[@UPLINKUSA]

8000 miles in 11days with no sleep or food. The world seems so big to us but to birds not so much.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Absolutely wild isn't it?

[@LyneisFilm]

Long-billed Curlews must be juveniles, with rather short bills. Congrats on the Bar-tailed Godwit. So what is your Lifer number?

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Could be! I'm at 798 overall right now! - Derek

[@LyneisFilm]

@@BadgerlandBirding That is great. I am only counting "Photo sightings" in California which leaves me at 203.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@LyneisFilm nice!

[@timjozwiak2293]

WHOOT WHOOT!!!!!