10/13/2020 7:33 PM
Clarín.com
International
Updated 10/13/2020 7:36 PM
One bird was monitored flying more than 12,000 kilometers (about 7,500 miles) from Alaska to New Zealand, setting a new world record for nonstop bird flights.
It is a silt, also known as a
"needle" or "jet fighter
", due to its aerodynamic resemblance to fighter planes, a genus of caradriform birds of the scolopacidae family.
They are a group of large migratory birds, with a pointed beak like a knitting needle and long, wading legs.
They form large flocks on coasts and in estuaries in winter.
The male bird,
named 4BBRW
in English reference to the blue, blue, red and white rings affixed to its legs, also had a 5-gram satellite tag on the lower back to allow scientists to track its progress.
He was one of four who came out of the Alaskan marshes together, where they had been feeding on clams and worms for two months.
After leaving Alaska, the birds headed south over the Aleutian Islands and then to the Pacific Ocean.
The journey is believed to have been prolonged due to strong easterly winds, which pushed the group towards Australia.
Also known as "jet fighter" for its aerodynamics similar to that of fighter planes.
The satellite recorded a point-to-point flight of 12,854 kilometers, but scientists believe that once rounding errors are accounted for, the journey will have been about
12,200 kilometers.
The longest non-stop flight on record by a bird, at 11,680 kilometers, was recorded in 2007.
The 4BBRW ultimately departed from southwestern
Alaska
on September 16 and reached a bay near Auckland,
New Zealand
,
11 days later
after flying at speeds of up to 70km per hour.
Jesse Conklin of the
Global Flyway Network
, a consortium of scientists studying epic migratory journeys, said: “They seem to have a certain ability to know where they are in the world.
We can't really explain it
, but they seem to have a map on board. "
“They fly over the open sea for days and days in the mid-Pacific;
there is no land at all
.
Then they get to New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea where there are quite a few islands and, we could be anthropomorphizing, but it really seems like they're starting to see land and they think they need to start tacking or they will lose New Zealand from their radar. '
It is not safe, but it
is believed that the birds do not sleep
on the trip as they flap most of the time.
The four birds monitored were fed mollusks and clams before departing from Alaska.
“They have an incredibly efficient fuel-to-energy conversion rate.
They are designed like a jet fighter.
Long, pointed wings
and a really elegant design that gives them great
aerodynamic potential. "
The birds were among 20 captured and tagged by the Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Center, in the Firth of Thames, southeast of Auckland, at the end of 2019. They are expected to begin their return flight in March, flying across Asia. , where they will feed around the Yellow Sea, before returning to Alaska.
Scientists from the Global Flyway Network believe that the route across the Pacific functions as an
"ecological corridor"
rather than a barrier for birds;
providing a
wind-
assisted passage
relatively free from the risk of disease and predators.
"There are other birds that make flights on a similar scale of, say, 10,000 km, but there are not many places in the world where it is necessary," Conklin said.
"So this is not necessarily the only bird capable of doing it, but it
is the only bird that needs to do it
."
