Nickie Muir: Kuaka is a symbol of NZ's resilience

Nickie Muir

That sexy beast. With the long nose and even longer legs. Super sporty muscley bird. The godwit is this year's Bird of the Year. Complete with all the power that only a bird that flaps (not soars) all the way from Alaska to NZ without stopping - the kuaka is the poster child for resilience.

Keith Woodley - author of Godwit; Long haul Champions and manager of the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre - sent a last minute email asking for help in the campaign to get the godwit over the line in the Forest and Bird popularity contest to help build the bird's profile.

It's 40 years since the centre opened and has played host to such great bird enthusiasts as Margaret Attwood and Helen Clark as well as thousands of international dignitaries.

Keith's life has literally been dedicated to the flight and plight of one of our most endearing birds; building relationships here and in the countries the kuaka visits to help secure its feeding sites against development and the encroachment of Asia's ever-growing mega cities.

In May he was with two other scientists visiting North Korea where the kuaka stops over. Their plan is to raise money to buy the piece of land where the birds feed. The only individuals in the world mad and passionate enough to try and buy a swamp in North Korea - for a bunch of birds. Inspirational insanity in a crazy world.

In Christchurch, friends said that the godwit had become a symbol of resilience after the quake and that their families looked forward to the annual celebrations on the return of the kuaka heralding the end of winters in a broken city. Up here I was told that the people of Muriwhenua have many stories of kuaka in the way that one bird lifts and flies out to sea and then the others follow.

Then I got an email from Ruakaka - telling me that the kuaka was also important to her hapu; Patuharakeke, and that she was pleased to see the inclusion of the original place name of Pukorokoro in the Centre's name now. Not so happy, to see the name 'Miranda' still there as it was the name of one of the British ships that had bombed the area when the men were away, killing many hundreds of women and children and kainga in the area. Sometimes - ignorance is bliss. And sometimes it's just ignorance. Reading Michael King's History of NZ I was shocked that it was only NZ's post-European history; a fact not indicated on the cover. The real beauty of the Treaty settlement process for me as a pakeha is hearing the stories of what has gone before. At nearly 50 I'm getting myself an education. As a country that will be a long-haul flight.