An international traveler just broke the world's record for the longest flight. Among birds that's.
A bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica) just flew for 11 days straight from Alaska to New Zealand, traversing a distance of seven,500 miles (12,000 kilometers) no end, breaking the longest flight among birds known to scientists, The Guardian reported.
Bar-tailed godwits are "big, noisy and cinnamon-colored," per the National Audubon Society. and that they are known to undertake impressive migrations between Alaska and New Zealand, flying thousands of miles no end.
But one particular bird, driven by easterly winds that prolonged his journey, flew longer than any of his kind known to this point.
The scientists tracked this particular male godwit – called "4BBRW" for the colored identification rings on its legs, stacked blue, blue, red, so white – through its onboard satellite tag. In 2019, they caught and tagged 4BBRW together with 19 other bar-tailed godwits within the Firth of the Thames, southeast of Auckland.
The endurance flyer departs from southwest Alaska on September 16 after having spent a pair of months feeding in Alaska's mudflats, consistent with The Guardian. Though the godwits put on weight during now, they're known to shrink their internal organs for his or her migration so as to travel light, consistent with The Guardian.
After leaving Alaska, the godwit flew south over the Aleutians and landed during a bay near Auckland in New Zealand 11 days later. His satellite clocked in at 7,987 miles (12,854 km), in line with The Guardian. But rounding errors likely mean that the journey actually extended over about 7,581 miles (12,200 km), in keeping with the scientists.
Sometimes, he flew up to 55 mph (89 km/h). Previously, the longest flight recorded among birds was made by a female bar-tailed godwit that flew around 7,145 miles (11,500 km) in nine days in 2007, in line with National Geographic.
These godwits are made for such lengthy journeys. "They have an incredibly efficient fuel-to-energy rate," Jesse Conklin, who is an element of the world Flyway Network, a gaggle of scientists studying such migrations, told The Guardian.
"They have plenty of things going for them. they're designed to sort of a jet fighter. Long, pointed wings and a very sleek design, which provides them lots of aerodynamic potentials."
The journey isn't only impressive but holds cultural significance for people in New Zealand.
To the Maori, the indigenous Polynesian people of latest Zealand, godwits, which they call "kuaka," are signs that luck is coming; and also the return of the kuaka marks the start of spring, in keeping with the National Audubon Society.
4BBRW et al of his kind are expected to start out their journey back to Alaska in March, but first, they're going to likely take a pitstop near China within the Yellow Sea for a couple of mouths to feed.
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