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Last year, Dr Phil Battley and his team from the Massey University revealed that one particular female Godwit, lovingly named E7, set a world record for the longest known journey without stop - a stunning 11,500km from Alaska to New Zealand. This year they will be hoping to put satellite tags on some males in order to ascertain whether their migration is any different. Unfortunately, tagging Godwits is a tricky business but Dr Phil Battley and his colleagues have designed special nets so that they can catch the birds.
Our reporter in New Zealand, David Steemson, went down to the Miranda Shore Bird Centre, which is 80 km south of Auckland to find out about the logistics of catching Godwits. First up, the nets need to be attached to the mudflat and secured before dusk so the birds can be caught in the dark. Dr Phil wants to tag 10 large males, as these are the most likely to survive the epic journey and therefore provide the best data, so the nets will have to initially accomodate up to 50 birds. These 50 birds will then be filtered so that only the largest males remain for tagging. The bill length of these birds is the best indicator of size and this is how Dr Phil and his team will determine which Godwits to tag. Let's hope they can successfully catch and tag a few individuals because the annual migration of the Bar-tailed Godwit is truly astonishing.
Godwits are bulky, feisty birds that are hard to catch but you can find out in the next edition of World On the Move whether they were successful.
Further Reading:
Next report: Nine tagged Godwits
Dr Phil Battley works for the Pacific Shorebird Migration Project