Bells peel out to welcome birds in September

Cathedral in 'the square'

Very soon, as they do every September, the bell-ringers of Christchurch Cathedral will ring their bells for thirty minutes to welcome, and announce that the first  Bar-tailed godwits have arrived in our city  – and, that spring has arrived too.

The birds fly from their breeding grounds on the Alaskan tundra to spend the northern winter in here in the South Pacific and, specifically on our Avon-Heathcote Estuary (Ihutai) is usually home to up to 3,500 birds.

In recent years about 400 Arctic-breeding godwits were given lightweight, coloured bands on their legs while in New Zealand – allowing researchers to learn more about their movements and survival rates, and this work has helped confirm most of our godwits are from Alaska.

“It’s been discovered that instead of migrating by island-hopping down through Asia and Australia, these Alaskan-breeding godwits fly directly across the Pacific in a flight of about 11,000km – which the fastest birds can complete in six to seven days,” says Christchurch City Council ranger Andrew Crossland.
Most godwits will leave New Zealand during in each March: in Christchurch we  farewell them in a ceremony at the mouth of the estuary of our two rivers that flow through the city – the Avon which winds its way through the city, and the smaller Heathcote River which is closer to our Port Hills: the volcanic hills which mark the start of Banks Peninsular.

Over the past few years, some150-300, young, non-breeding, birds stayed with us for the Southern Hemisphere winter.

NOTE: The #5 bus will take you along Rockinghorse Road, the sand spit of South New Brighton, where you can see these, and other shore birds as you walk in the area. There are no shops out there so take your water bottle as well as your camera and binoculars. See the blog on this site about using public transport in Christchurch and to discover other free nature places to visit.