The bird that flies 290km a day

Mar 31, 2012

A tiny songbird weighing just two tablespoons of sugar migrates from the Arctic to Africa and back—a distance of up to 29,000kms (18,000miles), scientists reported last month.

A tiny songbird weighing just two tablespoons of sugar migrates from the Arctic to Africa and back—a distance of up to 29,000kms (18,000miles), scientists reported last month.

But biologists who tagged the tawny-and-white insectivore were stunned at its flight endurance.

They attached minute geolocators, each weighing just 1.2 grammes (0.04 of an ounce) to the legs of 46 wheaters in Alaska and on Baffin Island in northeastern Canada.

The Alaskan birds spent the winter in Africa before returning back home, a journey of about 14,500km (9,000 miles) each way, in which they flew on average 290km (181 miles) a day.

They traveled over Siberia and across the Arabian Desert, heading to Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, a trip that took about 91 days on the outward trip, but 55 days for the return leg.

A tagged bird from Baffin Island flew over the North Atlantic, landed in Britain, traveled southwards across continental Europe, the Mediterranean and Sahara to winter on the coast of Mauritania, West Africa, taking 26 days out and 55 days back for a trip of about 7,500km (4,700 miles).

Source: AFP

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