Grand send-off for migratory birds
Bar-Tailed Godwits take flight at the Manawatu¯ Estuary
Across Foxton are volunteers from every walk of life helping the community in almost every way you can think of. In this occasional series of photo-articles, the MAVtech Museum’s photographer Jacob Brookie is using vintage cameras from the museum’s collection to show you a day in the life of our town’s volunteers.
When someone is getting ready to fly off on a long trip overseas, friends usually wait at the airport to say goodbye. Some of Foxton’s most famous travellers recently left for their annual trip, but they didn’t need a runway. When the Bar-Tailed Godwits took flight at the Manawatu¯ Estuary a crowd was waiting to see them go, organised by volunteers from the Manawatu¯ Estuary Trust. A vintage press camera was on hand to take photographs of the farewell.
Bar-tailed Godwits make the longest non-stop migration of any bird. When they arrive in Foxton each spring, they have made a 12,000km trip from Alaska — a journey which takes them up to nine days travelling at around 56km/h.
Unlike true seabirds, the godwit lacks special waterproofing on their feathers, meaning that they cannot stop and rest on the water during the trip.
Escaping the northern hemisphere’s winter does have its advantages. The Manawatu¯ Estuary is full of crabs, shellfish and marine worms — food that the godwits love to eat. When autumn arrives, the birds have put on some condition and are ready for the return journey to their Alaskan breeding grounds.
This flight has a stopover in China or the Korean Peninsula to feed and rest before completing the last leg of their journey. Some godwits spend summer in Australia instead of New Zealand and local birds must put on more weight before migration to make up for the extra distance travelled.
The farewell on March 17 was organised by the volunteers of the Manawatu¯ Estuary Trust. Since 2001 the trust has been advocating for the Manawatu Estuary, which has one of the most diverse ranges of birds of any estuary in New Zealand. Its volunteers liaise with agencies like local government and the Department of Conservation, help prepare management plans and fund-raise for signage around the walkways.
Public education and events are a big part of what the trust does, and volunteers were delighted with the number of people who came to farewell the godwits and learn more about them. The Manawatu¯ Estuary Trust team set up chairs, guidebooks and viewing scopes which helped guests get a close-up look at the godwits.
Also volunteering on the day was Phil Battley, an Associate Professor at Massey University who researches migrating birds. New Zealand has few migration sites more accessible than Foxton Beach, and Phil has been researching the estuary’s godwits since 2008. Phil is not the only one — another researcher was using a house overlooking the estuary!
Phil is passionate about the godwits and the great journeys they make, and suggests that observations of these migrating birds may even have helped traditional navigators as they voyaged through the Pacific.
As Phil was showing guests the scopes, a noisy gull disturbed a group of godwits and they must have decided that this was their cue to migrate. It was a big decision — godwits will often turn around and land again if the winds are not suitable. But these godwits must have been happy with the weather as they veered right and slowly flew out of sight on the first part of their journey.
By the time this edition of the Chronicle is released they will be approaching China. If food and weather work in their favour they will be back in Foxton this spring and the volunteers of the Manawau¯ Estuary Trust will be ready to welcome them. Some godwits have been making this journey since 2006 but no matter how many times you go overseas it is nice to have someone waiting for you when you land!
Jacob used a 1940s Speed Graphic camera to take these photographs. From the late 1930s to the end of the 1950s over 90 per cent of press photographers in America used these bulky cameras. Equipped with two shutters, interchangeable lenses and a tough construction, they became synonymous with the newspapers.
In fact, if you wore a suit and carried a Speed Graphic the police used to let you into crime scenes without asking questions! They once used glass plates or sheets of film but Jacob has bought a modern attachment so this one takes Instax instant photographs like a Polaroid. The contrasty pictures look a bit like photos in 1940s newspapers.
During the upcoming Big Dutch Day Out guests who dress up in traditional Dutch clothing available on the day can have their photograph taken by Jacob using this vintage camera for $4 with the money raised going towards the MAVtech Museum.
You can find out more at www. mavtech.org.nz, and you can learn more about the Manawatu Estuary Trust at www.metrust.org.nz.