THE PACIFIC GODWIT (Limosa lapponica).

Forest and Bird, Issue 35, 1 February 1935, Page 9

THE PACIFIC GODWIT (Limosa lapponica).

Native Name—Kuaka.

During the northern summer the coasts and lands about the Arctic Circle are the haunts of millions of birds belonging to the group known as shore birds or waders. They vary in size, shape and colour, but practically all of them agree in having flexible beaks adapted for obtaining food from amongst sand, mud, or fine gravel. Godwits, of which there are several species, are of medium size and distinguished by a slightly upturned bill. When the northern nesting season is over, practically all waders fly south on migration, and some of them regularly cross the equator. The Pacific godwit, nesting in Eastern Siberia and Alaska, reaches New Zealand in great numbers every year. During October flocks begin to arrive on the coasts, where they remain feeding until the end of March. River estuaries, tidal harbours, and sandy beaches are their chief haunts, and they range from North Cape to Stewart Island in such localities. Usually they are in flocks, hundreds and even thousands of birds together acting almost in unison as they move from one feeding ground to another. Feeding and resting between meals are their only concern when in these southern regions. Between the end of their nesting season in August and their arrival here in October all the adult birds have shed their worn summer plumage and are clad in their “winter” garb of drab brownish grey and white. It is a pretty barred and spotted pattern as seen in one of the birds in the plate, but is without bright colour. Any young birds that happen to come are much like their parents in appearance. With no concern but feeding in a rich feeding ground, and no family cares, the birds soon grow plump and regain the energy they have lost in the long flight south. Their food consists of tiny shellfish, shrimps and marine worms, each one a tiny morsel in itself, but nutritious and satisfying in any quantity. By the middle of February a change in plumage begins to take place, and the old birds, especially the males, begin to show reddish chestnut feathers on the body, and by the end of March some are resplendent in full breeding plumage. It seems likely that only the younger female birds come to New Zealand, for females in red feather are seldom seen here. The female is distinguished by having a longer bill—a difference shown in the plate. A good deal has been written about the final departure of godwits for their nesting grounds in March and April, and it

has even been stated that they all depart in one huge flock from Spirits Bay in the far north of New Zealand. The facts are, however, that flocks from all over New Zealand begin to move north in March and leave when they are ready. Probably the largest flocks take their final departure from the Parengarenga Harbour, but Farewell Spit, in the South Island, is also a jumping-off place. There is a restless energy shown by these birds ready to leave, and the slightest alarm or a loud cry from one of them will send the whole flock into the air with a roar of wings and chorus of wild cries. After several false alarms they finally string out into a trailing wedge and disappear in a northerly direction. There is still much speculation and theorising about how these migrating flocks keep a course for their destination, but so far the only fact that has been proved by experiment is that all migratory birds possess a " homing sense ” enabling them to head consistently for a point indefinitely distant. It should be added that a few non-breeding birds remain in New Zealand throughout the year. Not very much is known about the nesting habits of the Pacific godwit. Its haunts are the tundra slopes of Arctic lands beyond the limits of human habitation, and the nests may be seen by only a few Eskimo and an occasional naturalist. In recent years American naturalists have described the nests, mere depressions lined with grass, the four pear-shaped mottled eggs, and the downy young that grow so fast that within a few weeks they can go with their parents on the long return flight to the feeding grounds of the South. There is still left in this subject of bird migration across the Equator much of the mystery that was sensed by the ancient Maori, with his limited knowledge of overseas geography, when he asked: “ Who has seen the nest of the kuaka?” Our godwits perform one of the longest regular migrations known, and may well be ranked amongst the more remarkable of New Zealand birds. Fortunately their northern breeding grounds are undisturbed and likely to remain so. Their feeding grounds here, except for occasional reclamation and pollution, are also unchanged, and there is no reason to fear reduction in their numbers from these causes. A short open season for the shooting of godwit is permitted at present, but with the increase of settlement and rapid transport by launch and car it will undoubtedly be necessary to prohibit strictly any shooting of this species if visiting godwits are to have a sporting chance of returning each year to the Arctic to breed.