This Eastern Bar Tailed Godwit was flagged/banded in Toorbul , Moreton Bay, near Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on 23.09.2012 aged as an adult 3+ years.
Now here’s the interesting thing, its not an Australian bird it prefers to spend the summer in NZ however that particular year there was a big storm during migration from Alaska which blew it off course and it ended up in Australia!
Its a 12,000 km non stop migration from Alaska to NZ , then even more to Australia, this bird on its migration didn’t stop at all, didn’t land, sleep or eat and as Godwits are a non seabird they don’t glide, they flap their wings the entire way loosing over half their body weight, their flight is fueled on stored body fat and muscle mass, they are known as a powered migrant.
Godwits have to build up huge amounts of fat to sustain and power them on their epic migration. In order to provide themselves with enough room to house all of this extra fuel (fat), yet also keep their weight down for flying, the Godwit absorbs up to 25 percent of their tissue and organs, comprising of their liver, kidneys, and alimentary canal, it is only when Godwits complete their migration they then reform their organs to their entirety.
This is the longest non stop flight of any bird ! Seriously read that again, how is that even possible, what an amazing bird.
So the next sighting of ABW was in Apheado-Mokpo, South Korea 08 April 2015, then at Omaha Beach, NZ on 07 Oct 2015, in between those sightings it had flown all the way back to the tundra in Alaska and bred !!
It spent the summer of 2015 in Omaha with 5 sightings there the last on 22 Jan 2016, the next sighting was back in Apheado-Mokpo, South Korea which is a small wader staging site on its way back to Alaska and was then seen back at Omaha 27 Nov 2016 there were 3 sightings there over summer there the last on the 04 March 2017
The next sighting was 03 Feb 2018, it had done that huge 30,000ish km circuit around the Pacific rim and was back at Omaha Beach NZ, 5 sightings there over summer, then it was seen in Yalu Jiang, China on the 2 April 2018, this is a large staging site for migratory birds and sighted back in Omaha Beach, NZ on the 23 Sep 2018, that’s only 5 months to fly that distance and breed, WOW !
Ok so 3 more sightings at Omaha Beach over summer, the last on the 23rd Feb 2019 and then at Snells Beach, NZ on 29 Nov 2019.
This fantastic information, its so important for the species and understanding the global health of our birds as there has been a massive decline in their numbers, the maximum life expectancy is 34 years and their annual migration is 30,000 km thats around 1 miliion kms of flight in their lifetime just on their migration! Mind blowing !
When you are watching birds do keep a look out for bands/flags and try and photograph it, then report it. Godwits are so easily spooked and wary of people, who can blame them, you cant get very close to them without them taking to flight so a good zoom is needed.
In New Zealand please report any sightings to bandingoffice@doc.govt.nz
