All eyes are on the skies during World Migratory Bird Day on May 9 to see if a remarkable long-distance record – a non-stop flight of 13,560 km – can be beaten.
The record was set by a bar-tailed godwit which travelled from the place of its birth in Alaska to Tasmania two years ago.
Although the record flight at first appeared a one-off for a species known for its unequalled powers of flight, several of the birds are still being satellite tracked to see if it can be matched.
The tracking is not just about records, though. It is giving insight into the migration phenomenon.
When travelling between their breeding and wintering grounds, birds don’t choose their paths at random. They follow set routes that include suitable habitats where they can stop to rest and refuel along the way. Many different species share broadly similar trans-national and inter-continental routes which comprise seven major flyways, basically linking north and south. These are in fact super-highways in the sky along which billions of birds cross deserts, mountains and oceans during migration. The record-breaking bar-tailed godwit, along with other shorebirds that winter in Australia, travelled along the East Asian-Australasian flyway.
The godwit was a five-month-old bird arriving in Tasmania 11 days and one hour after departing from the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska. It then flew south-west to the Aleutian Islands, across the Pacific west of Hawaii, down to New Caledonia and through the Tasman Sea. It finally landed on the shores of Ansons Bay in eastern Tasmania.
It covered 13,560 km without landing once for food, water, or rest. To put that in perspective, that was the equivalent of flying nearly a third of the way around the entire planet in a single, continuous journey. The previous record of 12,200 kilometres was set three years previously by a bird arriving in New Zealand.
Before the trip, the godwit essentially turned itself into a flying fuel tank, with nearly half of its body weight consisting of stored fat. To make room for this fuel and to lighten the load, the bird’s internal organs, including its stomach, gizzard, and liver, shrank in size. During the flight, the bird did not glide like an eagle on thermals – it flapped its wings for the entire week and a half duration, navigating through wind, rain, and shifting weather patterns over the Pacific.
Scientists tracking the satellite-tagged bird at the Pūkorokoro Auckland Shorebird Centre in New Zealand noted this high-risk journey was made by a young bird. Unlike older birds that might follow established routes, this juvenile successfully navigated the vast ocean on its very first try.
The discovery of this record-breaking flight has completely changed researchers’ understanding of avian endurance, proving that these “athletes of the sky” possess an internal navigation system and physical stamina that the world’s aerospace industry could learn from.