As I dream of returning to holidays overseas, I have become envious of the free-ranging, long-distance migrations by some of our avian friends. And, yes, there is a pang of jealousy that they travel to and fro, landing where they will, and not an immigration official in sight.

But the recent experiences of godwit 4BWRB on its journey from Alaska to New Zealand demonstrate that it is not always easy. Our little friend took off from Japan for a marathon flight over open ocean of more than nine days. But it encountered severe head winds and ended up 57 hours later back in Alaska. After 11 days recovering, it relaunched for another attempt – this time making it to New Caledonia, After a further five weeks recuperation, it set off to finish its annual journey to the North Island.

4BWRB’s travails do put a perspective on those frustrating delayed, cancelled, and even missed flights that occasionally plague our international travels!