Bar-tailed Godwit

I think, from what I've read, that this godwit may be a female (because of her size; larger than the male), and may be about to fly off from New Zealand, for Alaska, heading for refuelling stops around the Yellow Sea. Their nondescript brown and grey plumage is the same colour as the intertidal mudflats where they forage. But there is nothing nondescript about their migrations. They undertake the longest nonstop flights of any non-seabird, but unlike those seabirds, there's no chance of a snack on the way. They leave from our Estuary any time from now on to about the end of March.

I was fascinated watching this bird foraging. She certainly was on a full-on dedicated hunt for food, and I'm guess was stashing away as much as she could. Unfortunately the only images I got with her having food in her beak (and what a long long beak!) were badly blurred. I'll have to have another try. There's a second image of her feeding in Extras.

The Maoris call the godwits 'kuaka' and for them they were birds of mystery. "Kua kite te kohanga kuaka? Who has the seen the nest of the kuaka?", and were believed to accompany spirits of the departed. They were also a source of food. These days they are fully protected.
Thanks to New Zealand Birds Online ...