Record-Breaking Bird Flies 7,500 Miles Over 12 Days Without Stopping
The ‘jet-fighter’ godwit bird has broken records after their recorded nonstop flight from Alaska to New Zealand.
A bar-tailed godwit.
A bird has set a new animal world record by flying nonstop from Alaska to New Zealand in a flight of more than 7,500 miles (12,000km).
The incredible journey of the male bar-tailed godwit took 11 days, with his speed reaching up to 55mph.
He was one of 20 birds caught and tagged back in 2019, with scientists placing a 5gm satellite tag on the birds lower back in order to track their routes and flight patterns.
Now, the data from the birds is fascinating both scientists and animal lovers.
“[The godwits] seem to have some capability of knowing where they are on the globe. We can’t really explain it but they seem to have an onboard map”, Dr Jesse Conklin, from the Global Flyway Network, a group of scientists studying epic migratory journeys, told The Guardian.
“They are flying over open ocean for days and days in the mid-Pacific; there is no land at all. Then they get to New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea where there are quite a few islands and, we might be anthropomorphising, but it really looks like they start spotting land and sort of think: ‘Oh, I need to start veering or I will miss New Zealand’ ”, Conklin explained.
For the Maori, the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, the arrival of the godwits are signs that good fortune is coming, and their return marks the beginning of Spring, reports LiveScience.
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