Plan to save godwits
An international operation is under way to save the godwits from starvation during their annual migration to Alaska.
Tens of thousands of the birds have flown from New Zealand to wetlands at a nature reserve in eastern China to refuel before they continue north to their breeding grounds. One of the coldest winters in almost 70 years has decimated the reserve’s population of clams, one of the godwits’ most important food sources.
Environmentalists have hatched a plan – a huge food drop of farmed shellfish, creating a ‘‘bird feeder’’ kilometres long at the Yalu Jiang nature reserve in Liaoning, near the border with North Korea.
Keith Woodley, manager of the Pu¯ korokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, a conservation organisation on the Firth of Thames and sister-site to Yalu Jiang, said the lack of food was perilous for the birds.
‘‘The food source has been declining over a number of years, because of pollution and development.
‘‘But the coldest winter since 1949 has had a particularly big impact on food supply and the clam population.’’
Godwits from across New Zealand – including Christchurch’s Avon-Heathcote estuary – leave the country throughout March. They fly for about seven days to reach the feeding stop 10,000km away in China, where they gorge on shellfish and worms after losing almost half their body weight during the long journey.
From there it is a further 5000km to their breeding grounds in Alaska, arriving from early May onwards.
Woodley said: ‘‘The birds need to arrive with reserves of fuel so they are in good shape for breeding. They also may arrive when there is snow on the ground and not much food around.’’
There are fears the shortage of clams at Yalu Jiang will increase competition for food among the 15 species of shorebirds that rely on the reserve to fatten up before continuing their journeys.
The situation is particularly dire for the endangered great knot as it flies from north Australia to Russia.
Some 25 per cent of the global population use the mudflats, relying almost entirely on the clams.
Researchers from Fudan University have hit upon a groundbreaking solution – to source huge numbers of farmed clams from aquaculture sites elsewhere in China and spread them across the mudflats, creating a giant bird feeder. The operation must happen within the next two or three weeks while the tides are right and before the birds move on.
Woodley said: ‘‘Godwits will be at major risk, but not as much as the great knot population. They are more dependent on those clams.’’
More than $100,000 has been donated to kick off the project, but more is needed to expand it and save the birds.
To help, visit www.mirandashorebird.org.nz.