Godwits due back soon in Christchurch

The Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), farewelled by Christchurch in March, is due to arrive back to the Avon-Heathcote Estuary within the next two weeks.

The Godwits usually return to Christchurch in the third or fourth week of September. They head the list of 23 species of migrant birds that have been recorded using the Estuary as a sanctuary during the northern winter.

The Estuary covers 880 hectares and is internationally recognised as an important wetland for birds. The Godwits arrival and departure, as well as those of other migrant species of wetland birds, is closely monitored by the Council rangers and local bird watchers every year.

Among the 136 bird species recorded on the Estuary, the Bar-tailed Godwit is by far the most abundant of the 23 migratory species from the Northern Hemisphere, and ecologically, the most important. Other regular migrants include:

Turnstone (Arctic coastline of Siberia),
Red Knot (Siberia),
Eastern Curlew (Kamchatka Peninsula and Manchuria),
Asiatic Whimbrel (Siberia),
Hudsonian Godwit (Alaska),
Asiatic Black-tailed Godwit (Northern Asia),
Arctic Skua (Siberia)
Pomarine Skua (Siberia).

These migrants all fly vast distances to reach Christchurch and, like the Bar-tailed Godwit, stay here from September through to about March.

Christchurch farewelled the godwits with a community send-off in autumn at Southshore Spit and with the arrival of spring, the community is preparing to welcome them back . An approach has been made to the ChristChurch Cathedral to ring the bells in welcome when the first migrant flock is seen in Christchurch.