The godwits that arrive in Tasmania and New Zealand each summer are known for their epic flights that span the far north and south of the globe. One plucky godwit, however, has stretched the limits of endurance by finally arriving in New Zealand after being forced to make a dramatic U-turn back to Alaska after 33 hours of non-stop flight.
All was going well for the male bar-tailed godwit after he took off from tidal flats in Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim delta on 11 September. But then he encountered ultra-strong headwinds high over the Pacific Ocean. He was 2000 kilometres into its journey and the godwit had no other choice than to turn back to his Alaska take-off point because there was nowhere to land in mid-ocean. The total aborted journey had finally taken 57 hours of non-stop flight.
The male godwit spent 11 days back in Alaska before giving the journey another try. He made it to New Caledonia, and spent five weeks resting there before taking off again. In a feat of stunning perseverance, he arrived at the Firth of Thames mudflats on New Zealand’s North Island just after midnight on November 11.
Every year, the bar-tailed godwits, or kuaka in Maori, make one of the longest avian migration flights in the world, travelling from their breeding ground in the Arctic, across the Pacific, to the far south of Australia and New Zealand.
This year, a female godwit was confirmed as having made the longest non-stop flight by a land bird ever recorded. She travelled 12,200 km from Alaska to New Zealand, flying for eight days and 12 hours at an average speed of 59 km/hour.
The godwits travelling to Australia tend to turn up unnoticed but in New Zealand there is cause for celebration when they arrive. They are considered the coastal harbinger of spring in the South Island and the citizens of Christchurch ring the city’s church bells when the godwits are first sighted.
On the north island, the godwits are monitored by the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, south of Auckland, which fits 20 godwits with radio transmitters each year. Monitoring the species helps scientists to assess the impact of weather on ultra-long-distance migration in real time, and also understand how the migrating godwits adapt to changing weather conditions.
The godwits go to extraordinary efforts to be able to fly such long distances, including replacing all their feathers to ready themselves for the next migratory flight and undergoing physiological changes to better enable them to store fat and fly for extended periods.
The scientists at the shorebird centre describe climate change as a problem for godwits “at every point of the compass”.
In both Australia and New Zealand, sea level rise is reducing habitats and foraging grounds; in Alaska, warming temperatures are changing the breeding environment and arrival of insects, which godwits rely on for food.