A 4-month-old bird flew more than 8,000 miles nonstop from Alaska to Tasmania
Scientists said the juvenile bar-tailed godwit flew 8,425 miles in 11 days, a nonstop Pacific crossing tracked by a tiny solar-powered satellite transmitter.
Huge flock of bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica) and red knots in flight, silhouetted against orange sunset sky along the North Sea coast in spring. (Photo by: Arterra/Sven-Erik Arndt/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
A bar-tailed godwit made a journey that sounds almost impossible: more than 8,000 miles across the Pacific without stopping.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center, a four-month-old bar-tailed godwit, known as B6, flew 8,425 miles in 11 days, traveling nonstop from Alaska to Tasmania, Australia. The journey set what the agency described as the longest documented non-stop flight by any animal.
The 'Bar-tailed Godwit' (Limosa lapponica), weighing between 200-600 grams and measuring approximately 40 centimeters in length, is known for its remarkable migration abilities is seen in Kocacay Delta of Karacabey district in Bursa, Turkiye, on Aug. 1, 2024. (Photo by Alper Tuydes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The young godwit left Alaska on Oct. 13, 2022, and arrived on Oct. 24, after first fattening up on Alaska’s Kuskokwim Delta.
How scientists tracked the record flight
The record-setting trip wasn’t a lucky guess based on sightings. A team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Max Planck Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tracked juvenile bar-tailed godwits from breeding sites near Nome, Alaska, to learn how the birds navigate their very first long migration.
To follow B6’s route, researchers used a 5-gram, solar-powered satellite transmitter attached to the bird’s rump. They also used a U.S. Geological Survey metal band and a uniquely coded alphanumeric leg flag to identify individual birds.
Why bar-tailed godwits make such extreme migrations
Bar-tailed godwits are built for long-haul flight, using stored energy to cross vast stretches of ocean. But what makes this story stand out is the combination of distance, duration and the bird’s age. B6 was only about four months old when it completed the crossing, according to the Alaska Science Center.
Researchers say work like this is part of a broader effort to understand where and when godwits face the greatest threats during the year and how conservation efforts can protect them along their migration routes.
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