Remarkable Endurance

[RichW]

A recent article in the NYTimes about probably the world champion of endurance - that is the Bar-tailed Godwit - a bird that migrates between New Zealand and Alaska.

This bird's migratory pattern was just recently discovered, after tracking devices were attached to some of the birds. These birds fly the 7000 miles between Alaska and New Zealand without stopping to rest, to eat, to have water, or to sleep. They fly between 3 and 5 miles high in altitude. The flight takes up to 10 days.

story is here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/s...s-godwits.html

[Boatbum]

A recent article in the NYTimes about probably the world champion of endurance - that is the Bar-tailed Godwit - a bird that migrates between New Zealand and Alaska.

This bird's migratory pattern was just recently discovered, after tracking devices were attached to some of the birds. These birds fly the 7000 miles between Alaska and New Zealand without stopping to rest, to eat, to have water, or to sleep. They fly between 3 and 5 miles high in altitude. The flight takes up to 10 days.

story is here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/s...s-godwits.html

10 days of nonstop flight without food or water. Is that biomechanically possible? Most birds need to eat 2-3 times their body weight every day.

[Hallam]

They take advantage of the slipstream. The short tailed shearwater in our local waters does similar.

[Jim Mahan]

10 days of nonstop flight without food or water. Is that biomechanically possible? Most birds need to eat 2-3 times their body weight every day.

Maybe they don't stop to eat because they packed a lunch. Or because they eat stuff they catch on the wing. Or

The birds don't need their guts to feed during long migration flights; therefore, due to specific adaptation, they shrink them and replace the weight with fat and muscle.

http://animalia.bio/bar-tailed-godwit

[bluedog225]

I’m sure the tracker was appreciated.

[Jimmy W]

Ring-billed gulls breed in the northern US and Canada. In the winter, you see many flocks down here. Last fall, I noticed some floating south down the Mississippi River. The smart way to migrate.

[JayInOz]

I’m sure the tracker was appreciated.

Hahahaha Winner. JayInOz

[LeeG]

[LeeG]

what an awesome bird

[Hallam]

Amazing really. apparently some migrate to Australia.

https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/bar-tailed-godwit

[birlinn]

Our Arctic Terns do 22,000 mile round trips every year.
However they do feed on the way.

[David G]

Impressive feat.

And a reminder of the wonderous multitude of adaptations that various species have made in order to make a living here on our planet.

[dutchpp]

An Arctic Tern was tagged with a tracker in the Netherlands, the little guy (100 gram) logged a whopping 90.000 kilometers in a year.
We should treat them with more respect

[john welsford]

Maybe they don't stop to eat because they packed a lunch. Or because they eat stuff they catch on the wing. Or

http://animalia.bio/bar-tailed-godwit

Their "fuel" is the fat that they build up in the couple of months prior to the migration. A few do stop along the way to refuel, but the majority make it in one hop. They're just beginning to arrive here in NZ, their preferred "home zone" is a protected area around the western side of the Firth of Thames, they spread out from there then just before heading north again the flock reassembles and stocks up on "fuel" before heading out.

John Welsford

[Hallam]

Impressive feat.

And a reminder of the wonderous multitude of adaptations that various species have made in order to make a living here on our planet.

I thought the beak was more impressive!

[Gerarddm]

It has always boggled me that hummingbirds migrate nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico, ~450 miles.

[RFNK]

I thought the beak was more impressive!

Reminds me of the headline after Shane Gould won several Olympic medals: Swimmer's Big Feat!

[skuthorp]

We get them on the sand and mud flats just down the hill on Western Port Bay.

[Jim Mahan]

Monarch butterflies migrate, one way, three thousand miles from northern US and Canada to southern Mexico.

[RFNK]

We get them on the sand and mud flats just down the hill on Western Port Bay.

Here in Newcastle too.