A bird expert said Friday that a young bar-tailed godwit appears to have set a non-stop distance record for migratory birds.
An international research team followed the bird's first annual migration across the Pacific Ocean after it was tagged as a hatchling with a tracking gps chip and solar panel. The bird's gender was unknown because it was so young.
According to data from Germany's Max Plank Institute for Orni, it left southwest Alaska about five months ago. The research hasn't yet been published.
A map published by New Zealand's Pukoro Miranda Shorebird Center shows that the bird began on a southwestern course toward Japan and then turned southeast over the Aleutian Islands.
When the bird flew over or near Kiribati, New Caledonia, and the Australian mainland, it turned to the west and headed towards the most southerly state in the country. It was shown on the satellite trail that it covered 13,560 kilometers.
"We don't know if this is an accident or if this is part of a normal pattern of migration for the species, we still don't know," said the researcher.
The longest migration by a bird without stopping for food or rest is listed by Guinness World Records.
The flight was recorded in 2020 as part of a decade-old research project.
Researchers say the bird broke its own record with a 13,000 kilometer flight on its next migration. Guinness hasn't acknowledged that feat.
Researchers didn't know if the bird flew alone or in a flock.
We don't know how representative this event is because there are so few birds that have been tagged.
It's possible that half of the birds that migrate from Alaska come to Tasmania directly rather than through New Zealand, or that it's the first time it's happened.
Adult birds leave Alaska earlier than juvenile birds so the tagged bird was not likely to follow more experienced travelers south.
The bird will fatten up once the weather clears in the remote corner of the state, where it has lost half its body weight.
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