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Now that spring is here at last, there is a lot happening in Shakespear Open Sanctuary. Most notable is the safe arrival of our resident flock of godwits, back from their breeding season in Alaska having flown non-stop across the Pacific in a week or so. To accomplish this incredible flight they first accumulate enough fat to double their weight and then burn it all up on the way, plus burning up some flight muscle as their weight and power needs reduce. They cannot stop on the water and so do not get a drink either so their airways are adapted to reduce evaporation.
They go back to the same sites in NZ and Alaska each year and, while their navigation is not fully understood, it is thought that they navigate approximately using the sun and stars and then, after the right number of days, start looking for landmarks and other signs. We demand a high level of security in our own travels, but as a species the godwits live with some likelihood that they will not arrive where they intended (if at all!). But now they are here they are usually to be found at low tide on the mudflats at Okoromai Bay.
It is also breeding season for our little spotted kiwi. We’ve been following them using radio trackers so we know approximately where each one is living, so we can tell when they pair up and, once a male stops moving around, we assume that he is sitting on an egg. He’ll do this for 70 days before the egg hatches, but the chick is then born big enough to look after itself.
There is a dog-walking area at Okoromai Bay but, regrettably, some people are still bringing dogs into the sanctuary itself, causing a serious threat to the kiwi. The scent of a kiwi is apparently irresistible to dogs. They have very weak rib cages and one bite will kill them. So it is either kiwi or dogs, but not both. The no-dog signs are very clear, as is the policy of what happens to dogs that are caught, so if you do not care about the kiwi at least be considerate to your dog! If you see someone else with a dog please try to contact a ranger, or if you cannot, then get a photo and number plate and send the information to us.
Our seabird program is also having some success. For the past three years we’ve been broadcasting seabird calls from loudspeaker systems on the eastern headlands, trying to entice birds to artificial nesting boxes. In previous years we’ve had a few eggs laid but none have hatched but now, for the first time, we have a grey-faced petrel chick, looking just like the big ball of fluff in your vacuum cleaner. It will be fed by both parents until it is ready to fly, around the end of the year. Parents fly a long way out to sea so it will often be on its own and very vulnerable to predators. Though the sanctuary is free of rats, stoats and cats, there are still the bigger seabirds looking for a feed and this is probably why the petrels breed underground in the first place.
Near the park entrance is Waterfall Gully, one of the best bush walks around. It has a well-formed and easy track, and if you keep going to the lookout you’ll find a stunning view of the entire gulf. Go and see.
