And now, on to non-Palin Alaska news.
The godwits arrive in New Zealand from Alaska, skinny and tired and early. New Zealand’s One News says conservationists are worried why the birds took such a quick exit [sic] from their Alaska homeland.
The bar-tailed godwit arrives in New Zealand after a non-stop 11,000-kilometer flight over the Pacific, landing tired, worn out and starved.
Godwits have been steadily losing large chunks of their feeding grounds in Asia, where the birds stop over on their return trip to Alaska at the end of the summer.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/newsreader/story/520577.html
Previous godwit
It’s not just godwits that are antipodean
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The godwits (teva’tevaq) here in Chefornak sure are fat when they leave, that’s for sure. A couple of weekends ago a family gave me one to eat. I have never seen a bird with so much fat! I gutted and plucked him, baked him in an oven bag with cranberries that I picked on the tundra. So much grease in the final product. It tasted fine though. I’d eat it again, I guess. Sad that they are so emaciated by the time they get to NZ.