Southern View: September 24, 2020

SOUTHERN VIEW Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Thursday September 24 2020 11
News
BIRDS OF THE ESTUARY
Godwits return to
estuary feeding spots
• By Bea Gooding
THE AVON-Heathcote Estuary
has welcomed back the first
of the godwits from Alaska,
who have made the eight-day,
11,000km journey back to their
feeding spots.
About 125 bar-tailed godwits
have so far arrived from their
breeding grounds from the other
side of the world to enjoy the
warmer months in Canterbury,
and many more were to be expected
over the next few weeks.
The city council ornithologist
Andrew Crossland said they arrived
on September 14, the same
date as the previous years of
2015 and 2017, and was expecting
between 1300 to 1500 more
godwits arrivals by the end of
November this year.
During NZ’s winter, 306 godwits
were counted on the city’s
estuaries.
“Some of these birds disappeared
during August as they
become restless and move about
the country.”
Tanya Jenkins is the manager of the Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust, a
non-profit organisation formed in 2002 to protect one of New Zealand’s most
important coastal wetlands. Each week she introduces a new bird found in
the estuary. Her column aims to raise the understanding of the values and
uniqueness of the area.
Innovative gull dominates other birds
NOT FUSSY: The wide-ranging
appetite of black-backed gulls has
led to a large increase in numbers
since their arrival in New Zealand.
PHOTO: ANDREW CROSSLAND
WORDS LIKE innovative,
adaptable, cunning and
survivors spring to mind
when talking about the
black-backed gull or karoro
– the largest and most
common gull species in New
Zealand.
They are found anywhere
across the country in
non-forested areas, from
coastlines to high country
farming areas.
Since European arrival,
numbers of these large birds
have exploded due to the
fact that they quite like the
introduction of farms and
especially landfills where
these not too fussy eaters
have done extremely well.
With an appetite for anything
from newborn lambs,
rabbits, eggs and chicks from
other bird species, landfill waste,
public rubbish bin contents and
fishing offal from fishing boats,
numbers have increased from
a few thousand to an estimated
half million plus, with some colonies
reaching up to 1000 birds.
Carrying the disease salmonella,
their waste can actually
‘pollute’ grassed areas which can
be detrimental to farm animals
and cause pollution in our waterways.
In Christchurch with the
closure of the Burwood
Landfill in 2005 this bird
has dispersed throughout
the city where it manages
quite well.
In 2018, black-backed
gulls managed to raid
the chicks from every
single nest of the critically
endangered black-billed gull
in Charlesworth Reserve and
they have, understandably,
not returned there since
(and neither have other
nesting birds such as the
pied stilt).
Due to the current risk
of losing a number of other
bird species in and around
the estuary a black-backed
gull management strategy
is currently under review.
Watch this space.
How can we help prevent
these birds from taking over the
estuary? Please do not encourage
these birds to stay here by
making it just too easy for them
by feeding bread or left-over fish
and chips near the estuary.
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