The kuaka bar-tailed godwit is a tough little bird, and the first arrived at the Foxton Estuary in mid-September.
The young godwits fly 12000km non-stop across the Pacific Ocean from breeding grounds in Alaska for their summer feeding in NZ.
They are the only shorebirds to travel this distance.
They cannot fish or rest on the sea or eat or drink on their eight-day flight, and arrive at the estuary with the loss of half their body weight.