Skip to main content

Story: Bird migration

Bar-tailed godwits taking off

Image
Bar-tailed godwits taking off

When bar-tailed godwits fly across the Pacific towards New Zealand, they need a very precise sense of what course to fly. Strong winds could push them too far east or west, and they could miss the islands altogether. It is thought they use a combination of cues, including a kind of magnetic map, sun angles, star movements, and landmarks to correct their course as they go.

Using this item

New Zealand Herald

Reference: 10 October 2002

by Greg Bowker

Permission of the New Zealand Herald must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Christina Troup, Bird migration – Navigation and the magnetic field, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7253/bar-tailed-godwits-taking-off (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Christina Troup, published 2 March 2009.