Margaret Hicks has a long history of concerns about shore birds' environment being disturbed. Twelve years after this photo was taken, little had changed, she said. Photo / File
Margaret Hicks has a long history of concerns about shore birds' environment being disturbed. Twelve years after this photo was taken, little had changed, she said. Photo / File
Beachgoers are being asked to behave better now thousands of godwits have returned to Northland after their annual flight to escape the Arctic winter.
Ruakākā resident and voluntary wildlife monitor Margaret Hicks has battled for years to stop people walking through the Ruakākā Wildlife Refuge and adjacent beach area when bar-tailed godwits are roosting there.
The godwits arrive in waves of migration every September after a non-stop, week-long journey from treeless, tundra coastal zones mainly in western Alaska but also eastern Russia.
They spend half a year in New Zealand, feeding up over summer, then returning north to breed in the Arctic summer.
Thousands of the fully protected shore birds — which are considered both native to New Zealand and migratory — live in large colonies on Northland's estuaries and coast.
The Department of Conservation regularly reminds people to avoid disturbing flocks of roosting godwits in beach areas, including wildlife refuges and reserves. The species easily takes fright, and flight.
Hicks calls the disturbed birds' sudden, mass rising into the air at such times ''evictions''.
She is sure the ''evictions'' put them off their food and rest, and, in late summer, could jeopardise their safety during the 12,000km journey back to the Arctic.
Godwits and red knots settle at a new roosting site during a king tide.
The problem occurs mainly during king tides when other, shallower estuaries in Whangārei Harbour or along the coast are underwater. The godwits flock to the higher sandspit at the Ruakākā estuary, which is also a fully protected wildlife refuge.
Hicks said the actions of ''disgraceful, selfish people'' have been frightening the birds since they arrived in September.
Dogs running free, watersports and beach vehicles were the worst threats to the birds' peace, but people walking through or too near to the roosting birds were also at fault, she said.
People should change their direction when it became obvious they were heading for the birds, Hicks said.
She wants local residents to set a good example, especially when thousands of visitors come to the area in summer.
No dogs or vehicles are allowed in the Ruakākā Wildlife Refuge but people are.
At this stage DoC had no concerns about the godwits and appreciated any public interest in their wellbeing, a spokeswoman said.
Bar-tailed godwits • Bar-tailed godwits arrive in waves of thousands during September following their non-stop, week-long journey mainly from treeless, tundra coastal zones in western Alaskan but also eastern Russian. • Around 75,000 come to their half-year home on New Zealand's coast, leaving again in March to return to the Arctic for the breeding season. Smaller numbers of other migrating shore birds accompany them. • The 12,000km journey is the longest non-stop flight of any non-seabird. • The bar-tailed godwit is a large, long-legged wader, predominantly brown above, pale below, with a tapering slightly upturned bi-coloured bill. • As they don't breed until their third or fourth year, hundreds of non-breeding godwits winter over in New Zealand every year. • They were both revered and eaten by Māori. • They are usually silent on the ground in their estuarine and coastal homes, but immediately before departure there is a notable increase in call frequency and volume. (Info from Birdsonline.nz)
