IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3885, 28 August 1928, Page 17

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

THE GODWITS IN SIBERIA

By

J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

The Pacific fgidwits laid their eggs and reared their young in north-eastern Siberia and Alaska in May, June, and July. Many, of them now, probably, are on the long journey that will end in New Zealand, where they will spend the southern summer, leaving again in the autumn for theit nesting grounds in the far north. They seem to choose an elevated place on the great rolling . tundras. Each nest, usually, is placed between clumps of grass. It is often merely a depression in the moss and lichens, lined casually with fragments of surrounding reindeer moss. Sometimes a real, substantial nest is made, with grass woven in a circle. In spite of the clouds of godwits in many a New Zealand sandy bay and estuary, their eggs have not been recorded in this Dominion. In ground colour, most of their eggs are serpentine green or dull citrine green: but there is another type of egg, snuff-brown. The surface markings are cinnamon brown, snuff-brown, or brownisholive.

As the godwits do not nest in New Zealand, naturalists here are deprived of any opportunity to become acquainted with their domestic arrangements. Both male and female take part in the work of incubation. Both are zealous in defending their treasures, especially when the tawny-brown chicks first burst out of the shells. On a vast mossy upland tundra in the Igiak Bay region a godwit with two sturdy babies was seen running about rapidly, scolding, or wading in a pool of snow water, every now and then raising its long wings vertically above its back, showing the delicate tints of the under surfaces, and deliberately folding them one at a time. The female, when brooding, sits so tight that she does not rise until a stranger has almost trodden upon her. The male, acting as a scout, meets the intruder some distance from the nest and tries to disconcert him. Because of this ruse, although there may be many nests, few are found. Those that are found are mostly disclosed by chance. The strange original contents of one godwit’s nest were five eggs of a ptarmigan. The godwit had laid her four eggs on top of the ptarmigan’s, after the ptarmigan, apparently, had been driven off the nest bj’ the godwit.

Flocks of godwits, ranging in number from 25 to 200, have been watched arriving in St. Michael, Alaska, in the middle of May. They were shy. They kept in continuous motion, wheeling and circling in rapid flight over the lowland. They sometimes alighted for a few seconds, but skimmed away again in a close body. By the end of May the flocks are broken up.' The godwits then distribute themselves over their nesting grounds. In Siberia, as in New Zealand, they are vociferous. The old birds make themselves so conspicuous by their clamorous agitation that they seem to be more plentiful than they are. '■ “ The dinful Pacific godwit” are the words in which one observer describes them.

As a person approaches they arise from the ground, one after another, and come circling about, uttering a loud “ Ku-wew ” with an energy that makes the ears ring. If the nests are near, or if there are young godwits, the grown-ups come closer and closer, some of the boldest swooping near the stranger’s head and redoubling the din. The same note is heard on all sides while the godwits are courting. It also expresses their anger and their alarm. In the mating season <the males have a rolling whistle. At that time the godwits hold their wings stiffened and make a few rapid strokes and then glide for a short distance. On the ground they walk gracefully, with head well raised. They often pause to raise their wings high over their backs, and deliberately fold them again. If their whistling note is imitated they may be decoyed when they are flying in flocks. When wounded and taken in the hand they utted a loud, harsh scream.

One of the most lasting impressions given by godwits on the Siberian tundras is in . respect to their wonderful powers of flight. As described by an American observer, “ they wheel about protesting against intrusion,, and the slightest beat of the long, decurved wings seems, •without perceptible effort, to drive them forward like an arrow from a bow.” On the shores of Behring Sea, in the second week in May, godwits were heard, for an hour at a time, high up in the air. as they circled about, uttering their wild note, very distinctive amongst the medley of voices. . The mate’s call is often answered by the female with two syllables something like the clucking of a chicken. Sometimes a grey-breasted, immature female■= mated with a richly plumaged male; Sometimes both sexes were in their full colours. Many pairs showed the light greyish breast of adolescence. Young godwits; seem to wander northward and eastward before they start out for the south. They are amongst the first of the waders to leave Alaska in that country’s autumn. Young are flying by. the middle of July. Before the end of the present month, in at least some parts of Alaska,-not a single godwit, young or old, is. seen. The route of migration is through the Commander Islands, Japan, China, and the Philippines, and on to Northern Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and New Zealand, as far south as Stewart Island, also to the Chatham Islands. The stomachs of godwits killed and examined show that their favourite foods are different sorts of small insects, gathered on or near the shore. Hundreds of minute threadlike aquatic grubs of a midge were found in the stomachs, with beetles, pieces of shells of molluscs, marine worms, and a very little vegetable matter. In ponds, godwits feed by keeping their bills in the water, and they usually move in one direction, heads to the wind. Apart from this, nothing seems to be known of the godwits’ feeding habits, a subject that New Zealand naturalists might take in hand.

Another Siberian that comes, year in, year out, all the way, to New Zealand, although in smaller numbers than the godwit, is the sharp-tailed sandpiper. As far as is known, its nesting places are in Eastern Siberia and Mongolia. From the

Commander Islands, it flics along the I coast of Asia, through Japan, Chiu i, and the Malay Archipelago, to Australia and New Zealand. Its plumage is handsomely and richly coloured. Rich buff and bright brown are particularly noticeable in the juvenile stage. On Siberian shores, near North Cape, this little sandpiper is very plentiful. It has been seen seeking its food on ground covered by reindeer tracks. Feeding along the edges of tidal creeks, it may almost be knocked over with a paddle, and when a flock is fired,into it returns again and again. Although the curlew-sandpiper does not seem to be plentiful in New Zealand, it is on the list of regular migrants to this Dominion from Siberia. At one time it was believed that it nested in Greenland. This now is discredited. The only nesti <r places of the curlew-sandpiper, known definitely, are in Eastern Siberia from the delta of the Yenesei River to the Taimyr Peninsula, and on the Liakhof and other Siberian islands. Its nest and eggs were not discovered until 31 years ago. An island of soft tundra was being explored by a party of Americans. One of tli£..i has described this incident: “We lay dot, n to watch a curlew-sandpiper. With very great difficulty it was kept in sight, its : t took advantage of every little hollow to run in, and of every little ridge to hide behind. One of us got up and walked away. The bird remained motionless, watching him. and then ran backwards and forwards, and finally stopped behind a small tuft of grass. After a few minutes I raised my heal slightly. The bird instantly flew off and stood vatching. As it saw nothing more, it ran about again, and then settled down. I felt sure that I had the nest safe. I distinctly saw the bird shuffle eggs under it. I jumped up. and had the pleasure of looking at the first authentic eggs of the curlew-sandpiper.” * Four years later Russian explorers who wintered on the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula saw curlew-sandpipers in their homes. Fourteen years ago Mrs Brindley saw a curlew-sandpiper in the angle of the Yenesei and Golchika Rivers. Close by there were two small tarns, covered with blue ice. In the distance herds of reindeer were grazing, and a Samoyede sledge glided swiftly over a ridge. After much patient watching, lying still in the wet. and sucking lumps of sugar until she almost fell asleep, Mrs Brindley saw a skua-gull overhead. She snatched her gun and shot it. Up sprang the curlew-sandpiper. Mrs Brindley ran to the place. The curlew-sandpiper drooped a wing to decoy her. but in a few seconds she saw the nest at her feet.