Odd Behavior by Bar t Godwits

[Grahame]

In front of the main hide at around high tide this morning, several Godwits started attacking a Knot which tried to flee and ended up swimming to get away from them. As it got near to the bank, it was walking, and at this point it was chased by a Pied Stilt. Never experienced this behavior before.
Cheers, Grahame & Paul

[Finn Davey]

Maybe they're starting to get a bit aggressive as they approach their breeding season. I'm not sure when they fly back to Alaska, but I'm sure it's coming up soon.

[philbattley]

Seems unusual, but my guess is that there was something odd with the knot (and there have been sick birds in the Firth recently) and they were responding to that. I've never seen godwits obviously pick on knots in many hundreds of hours watching many thousands of birds over the years. And yes, migration should start in about a week or so in the North Island.
Cheers, Phil

[Grahame]

Thank you Phil, like yourself, I have been birding since the late 50's, and never seen this before. Your reasoning may well have hit the nail. Just afterwards walking towards the stilt hide, another knot walked up the path in front of us, and when two people came towards us , walked into the undergrowth and onto the mad. We both thought at the time that it was sick.
Cheers, Grahame