Farewell Spit Eco Tours Blog

Just to prove that it is not all about the Godwits, here is a shot of some Gannets gathering nesting material on the ocean beach of Farewell Spit.

They will fight each other for this and even pull it out from under another bird while it is sitting on the nest. After a while though, the kelp, seaweed and marram that has been gathered is all stuck together with guano. The egg is laid in the nest on the shelly banks beyond the lighthouse and this coming year we expect more than 6000 gannets on the colony.

Further to this morning’s post about Godwits in Collingwood John reported new arrivals on the beach on his way to the Lighthouse today.

Yesterday just before the tour departed for Farewell Spit a small flock of Godwits was seen on the beach in Collingwood.   Some of them looked thin and one had remnants of breeding plumage.  It is tempting to think that they are some of the first arrivals from Alaska.  A non-stop flight of 8-9 days. Not bad going.