What were you doing on Oct. 13? Did you consider setting off on an uninterrupted 13,560-kilometre journey from one tip of the planet to the other?
Because that’s what a bar-tailed godwit known as 234684 decided to do. The juvenile Limosa lapponica made the migration from Alaska to Ansons Bay in northeast Tasmania in 11 days and 1 hour — without ever touching the ground.
Wonderful news on ultramarathon flying Bar-tailed Godwits. Satellite tracked bird has flown NONSTOP from Alaska to Tasmania for the first time! What a trip! Thanks @miranda_trust, Max Planck Institute and others for this work drawing our world together. Nature is wild! 1/2 pic.twitter.com/NnT0QtLCUx
— Andrew Darby (@looksouth) October 24, 2022
The accomplishment smashes the continuous flight record held by another bar-tailed godwit by about 500km. That bird is actually a two-time consecutive record-holder, with flights clocking in at around 12,000km (2020) and 13,000km (2021), according to The Guardian.
ExplorersWeb was unable to reach the godwit for comment on his lost record.
Now that is something! In more than one way!!! pic.twitter.com/YQ0fFUcryj
— Global Flyway Network (@GlobalFlyway) October 25, 2022
Tracking bird flight with 5G
As for the new record holder, 234684’s route took him west of Hawaii and flapping over the island nations of Kirbati and Vanuatu before sliding into the gap between Australia and New Zealand. The enterprising avian touched down in Tasmania on Oct. 25.
graphic: Google Earth, ExplorersWeb
Scientists tracked the bird via a small 5G satellite tag placed unobtrusively on its lower back. Much like human records, it’s not so much who sets the record as who is seen doing it.
A bar-tailed godwit takes a well-deserved break from flying. Photo: Shutterstock
“That bird is likely to have been in a flock. This record is for continuous flying and it’s just incredible,” said Sean Dooley of BirdLife Australia told The Guardian.
“The most amazing thing is that juveniles migrate separately from adults. Adults take off from the Arctic sometimes up to six weeks earlier.”
Fattening up
How are bar-tailed godwits able to fly such long distances without touching down? It’s all about fattening up for the journey, plus a nifty evolutionary trick that allows them to shrink their organs to make room for more fat, according to Dooley.
But bar-tailed godwits aren’t the only long-haul flyers in the animal kingdom. Arctic terns regularly migrate up to 19,000km and beyond, giving them the longest migration pattern of any animal, according to Audubon. However, they land occasionally during their mega-flights.
An arctic tern. Photo: Shutterstock
Another winged champion worth mentioning is the bar-headed goose, which makes up in height what it lacks in distance. Bar-headed geese migrate over the Himalaya twice a year, flying over passes in excess of 7,000m.
