During this summer I have had a lot of opportunities to photograph AJD, in fact 40 times I have been to the estuary to check on him. This is his 12th summer here, and as expected, he left on the 25th of March, at 5 pm, on the dot. I thought he may have gone the day before (being leap year), as they were making their godwit migration calls, but due to a strong northerly wind, they stayed. Seems he left with three other males, and six females. As I write this they will be making their way across the south Pacific towards the Yellow Sea, a journey of seven days non-stop flying. The photo below was taken just 15 minutes before departure.
