Bar-Tailed Godwit Sets Record for Longest Bird Flight Going from Alaska to Australia in 11 Days

Bailey Richards
·2 min read
5
: Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), Scolopacidae.
: Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), Scolopacidae.

DeAgostini/Getty

A bar-tailed godwit just broke a world record for marathon bird flight.

According to satellite tag data, the five-month-old fowl flew continuously from Alaska to southern Australia for a total of 13,560 kilometers or a little over 8,425 miles, The Guardian reported.

The record was previously held by an adult male of the same migratory species who completed a 13,000-kilometer — or about 8,100-mile — flight last year, per the outlet.

After taking off from Alaska on Oct. 13, the young flier, who was most likely traveling in a flock, took a route west of Hawaii, The Guardian reported. The new record holder then flew over Kiribati on Oct. 19, continued through the open ocean, and passed over Vanuatu two days later.

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The young bar-tailed godwit then took a route east of Sydney and continued on between the east coast of Australia and New Zealand. On Oct. 23, the long-billed wader took a "sharp right" and headed west before finally arriving in southern Australia on Oct. 25, after the non-stop, 11-day-and-one-hour journey.

Sean Dooley, national public affairs manager for BirdLife Australia, told The Guardian that the "most amazing thing" is that juveniles don't migrate with adults, who take off from the Arctic before the younger birds — sometimes up to six weeks earlier.

Dooley also explained to the newspaper that the birds shrink their internal organs to store more fat for long flights — like a record-breaking 8,425-mile journey from Alaska to Australia.

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New Zealand-based Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre wrote on social media that the previous marathon flight record had been "blown out of the water by" the new godwit record holder, which the center called a "young upstart," according to The Guardian.

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The Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre also told the outlet that it made souvenir tea towels to commemorate the previous record holder and "may now have to have a new set made."