This week I watched a local news program on the flight of the Bar-tailed Godwits. These amazing little birds migrate from New Zealand to Alaska each year. The Godwit follows the east Asian coast on its way up to Alaska. Its only resting sites are near the Yellow Sea between mainland China and the Korean peninsula. At the end of the summer the Godwits undertake the longest known continuous flight of any bird over on their way back to New Zealand, flying 7,250 miles across the Pacific in just over 5 days!
Sadly, this natural feat may be in jeopardy. This year, close to 70,000 Godwits will make the trip, but those numbers are less than half of what they were in the 1990s. "Part of the concern comes from the loss of habitat at the staging grounds when they fly north," says Phil Battley of Massey University in New Zealand. Researchers and scientists have begun to actively track the Godwits via a satellite transmitter implanted in their abdomen.
To track the Godwits on their migratory journey: Click Here
To learn more about these amazing birds: Click Here
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