The Long, Long Journey: the Godwit's Amazing Migration

The Long, Long Journey: The Godwit's Amazing Migration
by Sandra Markle, illustrated by Mia Posada
Millbrook Press, 2013. Unpaged. Nonfiction.

When a bar-tailed godwit hatches in Alaska he/she must immediately begin to prepare for the longest nonstop bird migration ever--7,000 miles to New Zealand, and then back again. The godwit chick learns to hunt and eat everything she can find that will fit in her mouth and won't eat her first. This means dining on spiders, beetles, worms, and small clams, and avoiding foxes, falcons, and other predators. The godwit's steep learning curve includes learning to fly as well as practicing various survival techniques. Though godwit parents nurture their young in an exemplary fashion, when it comes time to fly the parents take off and leave the youngsters to their own devices. Even though they have never undertaken this long journey before, the fledgling godwits know where to go and they will fly for eight days without stopping to land in New Zealand. Mia Posada's lovely, muted watercolors perfectly illustrate Markle's fascinating text.

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