GODWITS ARRIVE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 24 October 1942, Page 2

GODWITS ARRIVE

LIGHTKEEPER’S EXPERIENCE BIRDLIFE ON FAREWELL SPIT CUCKOOS RETURN ON 24th SEPTEMBER The godwits have now arrived in full force on Farewell Spit, writes Mr N. ‘ McKinna. who is a lighthouse-keeper there. "One night recently I was coming off watch at midnight.” he says, j "when I saw one of the most ungual ' sights one could imagine. It was blowing a south-east gale with almost a record tide and a thick rain. At first I could only hear the wind roaring through the girders and stairs, but when I got away a few yards I heard godwits flying above me and on all sides. I looked towards the light and it seemed almost uncanny to see them streaming through the beams of light from the tower. They flashed by like ihis for half an hour or more. Next night the weather was as bad and the birds kept circling round the light. Three of them broke their wings against the glass as they swept past too close. I have noticed that the godwits swoop sideways into the glass whereas most of the other birds dive straight towards the light. “The best sight of all is to be seen : when the godwits afe preparing to leave. Regularly, for about a fort- | nicht, they do some great trial flights , high up in the air. Then some day or . night they depart, winging northwards* ,in a long column. The godwit is a wise bird: he can tell, better than most , people, just when the tide will turn. I have watched their flocks moving from one feeding place to another as the . tide comes in.” THE FIRST CUCKOOS Mr McKinna describes how. when he was on watch on the night of 24th SepI tember, he heard the call of the first ; shining cuckoos, which arrived at about 10 o’clock. There were two of Ihem and they flew around the light for three hours, one of them settling on the I balcony rail. Possibly, he says, they I were trying to catch the moths, but he , watched them anxiously in case they J should dive into the window, dazzled !by the light. They escaped injury the ! first night, but the next night he found the hen bird dead on the balcony Since that time large numbers of cuckoo? had landed on the Spit. With the godwits came about the same number of knots, a smaller bird with a shorter bill, and a more rapid flight than the godwit. It is a great sight, he says, to see them all rise suddenly from an area of about two acres, like a huge cloud of smoke. They will disappear as one watches them and and then, wheeling in their rapid night, will as suddenly reappear in & i gleaming flash of white. The unusually high tide which Mr McKinna mentioned washed away all the eggs off the bird bank which is a mile away from the lighthouse, and nex* morning there were eggs on the ! seashore opposite the light. However. Mr McKinna reports, the birds all ap- [ pear to be laying again. He had seen ‘ i two pairs of swans sitting, but although ‘ he has watched through a glass every day. he has not not yet seen any young , ones. However this may be because the parent birds keep their young ones out at low water mark, which, in some , places, is three miles out. The swans on the Spit are there in thousands. > Nearly all the imported kinds of birds may be seen about the light- • house —thrushes, blackbirds, sparrows. - hedge sparrows, goldfinches, chaffin- ’ ches. greenfinches, yellow finches, redpolls and nine starlings. The odd man out among the starlings seems to have : a bad time, and Mr McKinna reports that he has seen this odd starling the 1 victim of some noisy fights. In spite of I this, however, the bird remains with j j his fellows. Only a few redbills are ; now to be seen about the lighthouse: the others are all away in the high - country nesting, where they will sta> < until about Christmas time before ' coming back to the sea-shores again.