RIDERS OF THE STORM! COMING SOON!! TO A PLACE NEAR YOU!!!

"Who has seen the nest of the kuaka?" asks a Maori proverb. Well, never in NZ. The Alaskan tundra is the place to look, but not just now. Today, in Anchorage the temp. is 17.8 degrees C. The days are fourteen hours long, but getting shorter. At the equinox, on the 21st Sept. the day will be twelve hours long. By the solstice, 21st. Dec, our longest day, there will be just a few hours of pink dawn style light but the sun will not appear above the horizon. Between mid-Nov. and mid- Feb. the maximum temperatures never rise into positive territory and the minimums reach negative thirty. The ground is permanently frozen a few feet down which saves Alaskans a fair amount on refrigeration.

No place for a bird. The kuaka or eastern bar tailed godwits are preparing to leave. In a couple of weeks they will, in incredible numbers, take off behind a huge low pressure system and start their epic non stop journey of 11,000 km. across the sea to NZ. By that stage 55% of their body weight will be high energy fat. Some of this will come from the re-absorption of much of their digestive system, liver and kidneys. Extra luggage not needed on their journey. They will travel at speeds around 60km/hr. and make their journey in just six to eight days. When they arrive they will be running on empty, having lost half their body weight, and will be in sore need of some new flight feathers.

Godwits are one of the less endangered species. Over 100,000 visit NZ each southern summer. There are some causes for concern. In their breeding territory they are susceptible to habitat change brought on by global warming. Average annual temp. in the Arctic is up by 3.5 degrees C. in the past fifty years compared to a global average rise of around one degree C.

Risks occur as they return to their breeding grounds in a more leisurely way, via the East Asian Australian Flyway. This is also used by many other wader species. They pass through many countries along the way. There is an international convention to protect the wetlands they visit to feed to put on condition for breeding. These places are often adjacent to areas of dense human population and heavy industrialisation which can degrade these important habitats.

The first image is of godwits busy feeding on the shores of Waikawau in late Sept. 08. They didn't stay for long. In the summer they are always to be found on the Colville mudflats. If you need another really good excuse to sample some of the best coffee on the Peninsula this could be it. The birds are easiest seen at high tide. If you need another excuse, check out the neat pottery orang utan. It's also at the cafe!