These large wading birds spend their summers on our beach after an exhausting non-stop 12,000 Km flight over 10 days or so all the way from the Alaskan Arctic. They have a long tapering and slightly upturned pink bill with black tip He aha tērā? What is that?
Answer: it’s a Kuaka | Godwit:
Identification: Length: 39 cm (male); 41 cm (female); Weight: 275–400 g (male); 325–600 g (female)
Similar species: Hudsonian godwit, Black-tailed godwit, Whimbrel
A large long-legged wader, brown above, pale below, with a long tapering and slightly upturned pink bill with black tip. Males are markedly smaller with shorter bills than females.
