Tag: Godwits

Manawatu Estuary, Foxton Beach

Walk #92, 24th October 2022

It was a public holiday and I met my sisters in the Manawatu for a family walk. The Manawatu estuary is the most important aquatic and wading bird habitat in the lower North Island and it was declared a Wetland of International Importance in 2005. I wanted my sisters to see the Godwits on our walk and I wasn’t disappointed. They are amazing birds.

I got to know the Godwit bird species when I lived up north at Snells Beach. These birds make a non-stop 11,000 km flight from Siberia. Godwits are not big gliding birds, they flap their wings the whole way. The Godwits arrive in September and leave in February / March.

There are other birds at the Estuary, the Banded dotterill (endemic), the Wrybill (endemic), and Royal Spoonbill (native) winter over here. There’s also the Shag (native), Spur-winged plover (native), Pied stilt (native), Oystercatcher (endemic), and White faced heron (native) that are there all year round. The Bar-tailed Godwit (native) and Lesser knot (native) summer over.

I think there were Lesser knots resting with the Godwits. They have shorter legs and bill and they return to Siberia to breed.

Walk: Manawatu 28

Miranda Shorebird Centre

Walk 16 – Miranda Shorebird Centre, 21 April 2019

 

Miranda on the Firth of Thames is a wetland of international significance.  It’s a really important place for migratory birds as it’s part of the East Asian Australasian flyway. 

Miranda Shorebird Centre

Birds like the Godwit make a non-stop 11,000 km flight from Siberia.  Godwits are not big gliding birds, they flap their wings the whole way.  There are many different kinds of shorebirds here, but Godwits are my favourite.

The shell banks are unusual – they’re a succession of beach ridges  called cheniers.  This area is regarded as the finest example in the world of an active shell chenier plain.

We were on our way home from Whangamata so didn’t visit at the best time.  You need to go 2-3 hours either side of high-tide.  The Shorebird Centre is a good place to start – it has excellent information on the bird life.  The walking track begins from the Bird Centre.

Waikato land wars

In 1863  the Maori village of Pukorokoro was shelled by the British gunboat Miranda at the beginning of the war in the Waikato.  Should this area be named after a British gunboat?

Pukorokoro -cropped

Walk: Waikato 11