New Zealanders farewell birds on epic journey
13 Mar 2008
Christchurch city is bidding farewell to the bar-tailed godwit, as March marks the beginning of migration.
Hundreds of keen bird watchers have been gathering on Christchurch’s Southshore Spit to watch the departure of the godwits on their long and hazardous journey back to Alaska.
Thousands of godwits regularly spend the summer in New Zealand before making the 11,000km flight back to Alaska, via China, for the northern hemisphere summer. The journey from Alaska to New Zealand is the longest non-stop bird migration in the world. The first godwits are expected to touch down in Alaska in May.
The birds are leaving in groups of between five and 30 over a four-week period. When they have all left, the bells of the Christchurch Cathedral will toll.
New Zealand hosts around 70,000 godwits each summer. The birds arrive in New Zealand from mid-September and their migration path is tracked by scientists using satellite tags on the birds. Dr Phil Battley, of Massey University’s Ecology Group, is leading the New Zealand leg of the worldwide project run by the US Geological Survey.
This year six females and three males god-wits have transmitters fitted. The birds underwent a 30-minute surgery to implant a transmitter, after being captured using mistnets across a pond at Miranda in Thames, New Zealand. The tiny device is fitted in the bird’s abdominal cavity, with general anesthetic surgical procedures including heart monitoring and aspiration taking place.
Monitoring of birds in 2007 used backpack transmitters on 16 godwits. The results indicated that the external transmitters appeared to limit the ability of the birds to migrate.
A satellite track of the godwits travel can be found on the Alaska Science Centre website listed under ‘links’ below.
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