Pile of Pieds

Farewell Spit is an arcing peninsula of sand 27 kilometers long which curves to the east around the western head of the South Island. This is a strange place borne out of a unique geography. Sediments from the Southern Alps are brought down to the Tasman Sea by the west coast's many winding rivers. Prevailing winds and ocean currents from the west carry the finest particles, suspended in the water, over the top of the island, where they are deposited as land when the currents lose steam in the lee of the head. The result has been the formation of the lengthy spit as well as extensive mudflats that have accumulated on the protected side of it. These mudflats, exposed for kilometers at low tide, play host to tens of thousands of migratory and resident shorebirds, including large population percentages of the vulnerable Bar-Tailed Godwit and Red Knot. As such the area has been designated a wetland of international importance, recognized by Ramsar, an international treaty signed in the Iranian city of the same name in 1971, set up in an effort to protect flyways for migratory birds across the globe. During my exploration of the spit today I came across a massive flock of South Island Pied Oystercatchers, an endemic species whose overwintering numbers approach some 7,000 birds.