A Very Special Bird

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One of my special interests in birds is to learn about the migration of certain species, and in particular the godwit. The godwit has the longest recorded non-stop journey of any creature, when it was proved by use of a satellite transmitter fitted on a female bird, that a 12,000 km flight was made non-stop from Alaska to New Zealand. We are fortunate to have a small number of godwits on our local Whanganui River Estuary and one bird with a leg flag engraved 'AJD' is special to us. This male godwit has returned to Whanganui eight years in a row, with amazing regularity. He leaves here on about the 25<sup>th</sup> of March each year and flies to Alaska, via the Yellow Sea in China. He returns from Alaska to the Manawatu River Estuary each year on about the 30<sup>th</sup> of September, and then on about the 12<sup>th</sup> of November he comes over to Whanganui for the rest of the summer. He is featured in my last two bird books, so what a thrill it was to find him back in Wanganui again last week, like an old friend returning. While the rest of the godwits slept he gave me a look as if to say, “I know you” – see picture below.

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