Where the Godwits Fly

 “The Godwits we see in our tidal reaches make extraordinary journeys every year. They leave New Zealand in Autumn flying to China and North Korea to feed for five weeks before heading on to Alaska to breed over the northern Summer. In our Spring, they fly direct from Alaska back to our estuaries. This pattern of departure and return has become symbolic in both Maori and Pakeha stories, mythology and literature. These world-wise adventurers always return home.”

We share the planet with an extraordinary and beautiful range of creatures that it always thrills me to meet in the wild. Our treatment of them is appalling and is my reason for being a vegetarian and sometime animal activist. I know that one day in the oncoming centuries we will find to understand their languages and it will enrich us deeply.