BIRD FLIES 13,500+ KILOMETERS WITH STOPPING
A five-month-old bar-tailed godwit recently smashed the record for long-distance migration after flying 13,560 kilometers non-stop over a period of 11 days.
Every autumn, millions of migratory birds take to the sky for a long and perilous journey to escape cold and to feed and breed. Many of them cover impressive distances of over 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), but this year, one small bird surpassed all expectations regarding long-distance flying and traveled a whopping 13,560 kilometers (8,425 miles) without stopping, setting a new Guinness record in the process. And it was all because of an unusual detour that could have cost the bird its life, considering that the non-stop journey pushed its flight capacity to the limit.
Last month, the young bar-tailed godwit – a wetland bird species – took off from Alaska on its way to New Zealand for the winter, but somehow, at one point during its grueling journey, the small bird took a little detour that added an extra 500 kilometers to its flight. That seems like a small distance, considering that the normal route would have seen it fly around 13,000 kilometers, but it is actually a significant difference that could have had fatal consequences.
Eric Woehler of Birdlife Tasmania said,“If a godwit lands on water, it is dead. It does not have the webbing in its feet, so, it has no way of getting off the water. If it falls into the water from exhaustion, if bad weather forces it onto the ocean surface, that is it.”
Scientists were able to track the godwit’s record flight with the help of a tiny tracker that only weighed 5 grams. Technological advancements have allowed researchers to track such small species of birds without endangering them, since adding any kind of significant weight to a creature that weighs only between 300 and 400 grams could put its life in danger.
“It is one thing to put a satellite tag on an albatross that weighs five or more kilos, but it is a completely different situation to put a heavy tracker on a bird that weighs only 300 or 400 grams,” Dr. Woehler said.
Recorded data showed that the young godwit took off on October 13 from wetlands in Alaska, followed the regular route across the Pacific Ocean, but made an unexpected 90-degree turn that headed it towards Tasmania rather than New Zealand.
Dr. Woehler estimates that the bird lost “half or more of its body weight,” during the 11-day continuous flight, but it made it to dry land safely, setting a new Guinness record for long-distance bird flight. The previous record had been set in 2020 by another bar-tailed godwit that covered 12,000 km (7,500 miles) in 11 days.
Interestingly, scientists have yet to understand how birds like the bar-tailed godwit are able to navigate over such large distances without getting lost.
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