Christchurch city is holding a ceremony tonight at 6.30pm to farewell the godwits. People are encouraged to come to the beach with their cameras to see the godwits leave. The day and time are chosen because of the tides at that time. Not all the godwits leave at the same time. They usually leave in groups of 5 to 30. Some will leave now and others will leave in the next few weeks. When they have all gone, the cathedral bells will ring for 30 minutes.

However, about 10% of the birds do not leave. They are the young birds which stay here during the winter. They are not ready to breed.

Although the godwits fly from Alaska to New Zealand without stopping, when they return to Alaska they stop on the coast of the Yellow Sea in North East China, Korea or Japan. They cannot rest on water or feed at sea so they stop on land, where there are mud flats. They have a long bill which they dig in the mud to find crabs and other food.

Click on this link to see some photos:

godwits photos