Above shows the rear view of loo with picture of our godwits and narrative as follows: – GODWIT – KUAKA (Bar tailed) Conservation Status: Declining. NZ Status: Native. Our astonishing Godwits perform the longest nonstop flight of any non-seabird in the world, leaving Alaska to come to Snells beach and New Zealand for the summer, arriving at the beginning of September, then leaving in February for the Yellow sea then back to Alaska
They fly the 11,000-12,000 km from Alaska which takes 8-9 days fueled only by stored body fat and unlike seabirds they must flap their wings the whole way without the luxury of soaring or gliding, not only this as powered migrants they don’t stop to feed, drink, rest or sleep and lose half their body weight, amazing!
It is so important that our shore birds can rest and feed undisturbed or they die on their migration, this is only one of our 28 special shorebird species at Snells that need your help, everything you do makes a difference for them.