Godwits leave New Zealand for Alaska
12:36PM Monday March 10, 2008
Hundreds of people gathered in Christchurch last night to farewell the bar-tailed godwits as they begin their long, 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.
Ranger Andrew Crossland said that around 500 people gathered at Christchurch's Southshore Spit last night to see the first of the birds leave on the eight-day journey.
The birds leave in groups of between five and 30 over a four-week period and when they have all left, the bells of the Christchurch Cathedral will toll.
(NZ Herald, 10th March 2008)
Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
3 comments:
Oh, he is beautiful...
My family and I "celebrate" the migration of the warblers every year... I just can't wait to see all of them in our trees as they pass through on their way back up North this spring!
xo CGF
So it could be your 'God Wits' waking me up every morning?
What a lovely story. I am also amazed at the numbers of birds migrating. How do they do it?
So is there a reason they are called Godwits?
I don't know the origin of the name Godwit - but the Maori name is kuaka.
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