It was difficult to believe that the bird resting in front of me on a Tasmanian beach – a bundle of feather and bone weighing less than a small pack of frozen peas – had only recently completed an epic 14,000 kilometre fight.
The bar-tailed godwit sat with another of its species amid a patch of dune grass squeezed between sea, sand and a barbed-wire fence protecting a vital shorebird resting and breeding site on the South Arm.
The two birds displayed juvenile plumage, indicating they had been born in Alaska or Siberia, possibly within the Arctic Circle, this northern summer. As the winter set in they had joined the great migration of shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian migratory flyway which, in the godwits’ case, leads them to either south-eastern Australia or New Zealand.
The godwits’ annual 28,000 kilometre round-trip has been thrown into focus recently with one of the species setting a nonstop flight record for any bird. A female carrying a satellite tracking device flew for 11 days without touching down in September, covering 12,200 kilometres.
The godwits, weighing only about 500 grams, are among 29 species of shorebird making the migratory journey through some of the most densely populated areas of world. They are all under extreme threat from habitat loss and hunting.
The fall in numbers is particularly apparent in Tasmania, at the extremity of their southern migratory range and each year populations are closely monitored by Tasmanian birdwatchers.
Two shorebird species, the eastern curlew and curlew sandpiper, have declined in number by more than 90 per cent, but the godwits this year have bucked the trend. More than usual have arrived.
The reasons for this development are still unclear. It’s believed, however, strong easterly winds set the godwits destined for New Zealand on a more westerly course.
Although there was some joy at the discovery of the godwits by a party of birders who had been monitoring a totally different species, the pallid cuckoos, the event did not have a happy ending.
When shorebird expert Mark Holdsworth studied the birds to determine their age, he noted one was having difficulty taking to the air. The bird was caught and on further examination at a wildlife rehabilitation centre, it was found to have a broken wing and could not be saved.
Mark Holdsworth considers that the bird might have been injured flying into the fence at the Mortimer Bay site, a structure designed to protect the shorebirds from disturbance, particularly from dogs.
Although the main threat to shorebirds appears to be centred on vanishing East Asian wetland habitat, disturbance and loss of habit also occurs in Australia. And there is some irony in the fact that one bird’s remarkable journey from the top of the world to the bottom should have ended in such a way.