Marbled Godwit

Now that the bird has left for higher grounds (Canada?), I can post the following message from my birding mentor (Wallace Coffey of Bristol, TN):

"A Marbled Godwit discovered and photographed (23 April, 2015) in Burke’s Garden of Tazewell County by Clancey Deel is one of the most rare spring shorebird records in Southwest Virginia’s history. Deel took the photo shown above at 10:16 a.m. along the shoreline of the MBC Ranch Pond located at the end of Litz Lane which is in the Southwest area of the valley. Marbled Godwits are extremely rare away from the Atlantic Coastal Plains of the state where they are mostly found. This very large shorebird prefer marshy grasslands and wet prairie habitats during the breeding season but spend winters on coastal mudflats, wetlands and beaches. In summer, they breed in central southern Canada from eastern Alberta to western Manitoba and as far south as central Montana and throughout South Dakota. An isolated breeding population is also found at the southern tip of Hudson Bay. In winter, Marbled Godwits migrate to both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts where they range from Virginia to Florida."