A young bird may have set a distance record by flying nonstop from Alaska to Tasmania

A fowl flew nonstop, apparently, from Alaska to the Australian state of Tasmania.

And now this younger bar-tailed godwit – a member of the sandpiper household – seems to have set a nonstop distance document for migrating birds.

It traveled at the least 13,560 kilometers – or 8,435 miles – throughout that flight, a fowl knowledgeable mentioned on Friday, as reported by The Related Press.

The fowl was tagged as a hatchling in Alaska through the Northern Hemisphere summer season, the AP additionally famous.

It had a GPS monitoring chip and a small photo voltaic panel that allowed a global analysis staff to trace its first annual migration throughout the Pacific Ocean, BirdLife Tasmania supervisor Eric Woehler instructed the AP.

As a result of the fowl was so younger, its gender was not recognized.

Nonetheless, at about 5 months previous, he departed southwest Alaska within the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta on October 13.

Eleven days later, he landed at Ansons Bay on the northeastern tip of the island of Tasmania on October 24.

That is in accordance with information from the German Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. The analysis has not but been revealed or peer-reviewed, the AP mentioned.

“Large, loud and cinnamon-colored”

Widespread in summer season in northern Europe and Asia, the godwit crosses the Bering Strait to nest in western Alaska, in accordance with Audubon.

“Large, loud and cinnamon-colored, it’s conspicuous on its tundra nesting grounds,” the identical supply additionally mentioned.

“Alaskan Band-tailed Godwits winter within the Previous World. A number of might seem on both coast of North America in migration – [and] these wandering animals, with boring winter plumage, typically affiliate with flocks of different godwits, the place they simply go unnoticed.

Godwits feed on bugs, crustaceans and molluscs, says Audubon.

“In the summertime in Alaska, [the bird] feeds primarily on aquatic bugs, generally additionally on seeds and berries. On mudflats and shores in different seasons, [it] feeds on crustaceans, molluscs, bugs [and] in the direction of annelids.

fowl monitoring

The fowl began on a southwesterly course in the direction of Japan – then turned southeast over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, in accordance with a map launched by New Zealand’s Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Heart, a reported the AP.

The fowl was heading southwest once more when it flew over or close to Kiribati and New Caledonia, then handed the Australian mainland earlier than heading instantly west for Tasmania, the state Australia’s southernmost.

The satellite tv for pc monitor confirmed the fowl traveled 13,560 kilometers (8,435 miles) with out stopping.

“Was it an accident, if this fowl obtained misplaced or if it’s a part of a standard migration sample for the species, we nonetheless don’t know,” mentioned Woehler, who’s a part of the analysis venture.

The longest migration recorded by a fowl with out stopping to feed or relaxation is 12,200 kilometers – 7,580 miles – in accordance with Guinness World Information.

This document was set by a satellite-tagged male band-tailed godwit flying from Alaska to New Zealand.

The longest migration recorded by a fowl with out stopping to feed or relaxation is 12,200 kilometers – 7,580 miles – in accordance with Guinness World Information.

This document was set by a satellite-tagged male band-tailed godwit flying from Alaska to New Zealand.

This flight was recorded in 2020 as a part of the identical decade-old analysis venture – which additionally includes China’s Fudan College, New Zealand’s Massey College and the World Flyway Community, the AP famous.

The identical fowl broke its personal document with a flight of 13,000 kilometers – 8,100 miles – on its subsequent migration final 12 months, researchers say.

Nevertheless, Guinness has but to acknowledge this feat.

Woehler mentioned researchers don’t know if the final fowl, recognized by its satellite tv for pc tag 234684, was flying alone or in a gaggle.

He additionally instructed the AP he hopes to see the fowl as soon as the moist climate clears within the distant nook of Tasmania – the place it is going to fatten up, having misplaced half its physique weight throughout its lengthy journey.

The band-tailed godwit first breeds when it’s two years previous, in accordance with Audubon.

The male’s courtship and territorial show “includes loud calls and aerial acrobatics” – deep wing beats alternating with gliding – because the male fowl circles over the tundra, in accordance with the identical supply.

The “nest website” is often on a raised knoll, surrounded by grass. The nest is a shallow melancholy, lined with blades of grass, moss, lichens.

The eggs of this fowl are often 4 in quantity, Audubon additionally notes – and these eggs are olive or pale brown, often with a number of brown spots. The eggs hatch after about three weeks.

The age of the teenager on the first flight? It’s in all probability round day 30, says Aubudon.