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Godwit fact of the day
The bar-tailed godwit, a plump shorebird with a recurved bill, has blown the record for nonstop, muscle-powered flight right out of the sky.
A study being published today reports that godwits can fly as many as 7,242 miles without stopping in their annual fall migration from Alaska to New Zealand. The previous record, set by eastern curlews, was a 4,000-mile trip from eastern Australia to China.
The birds flew for five to nine days without rest, a few landing on South Pacific islands before resuming their trips, which were monitored by satellite in 2006 and 2007.
Here is the full story.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on October 23, 2008 at 12:47 PM in Data Source | Permalink
Comments
a few landing on South Pacific islands before resuming their trips
Pussies.
Posted by: Anderson at Oct 23, 2008 12:55:57 PM
And here was me, thinking all the time that the Arctic Tern was the Bird to Beat.
Arctic Tern? More like Arctic Turncoat.
Posted by: tom s. at Oct 23, 2008 1:14:58 PM
Isn't it kind of cruel to stick a 1 ounce transmitter on a 1.5 pound bird going 7,000 miles?
Posted by: MH at Oct 23, 2008 2:21:49 PM
When the godwits arrive in Christchurch, on the South Island, the cathedral bells are rung.
Posted by: dearieme at Oct 23, 2008 2:33:28 PM
Did Palin say hi to them on their way? BTW, she can now claim this NZ experience as foreign policy exp...
Posted by: Brad at Oct 23, 2008 2:35:51 PM
this post is second only to the flying puffin in terms of MR blog posts about birds.
Posted by: pants at Oct 23, 2008 2:47:08 PM
What was the godwit fact of the day yesterday? I missed it. Can someone fill me in?
Posted by: Bernard Yomtov at Oct 23, 2008 3:12:44 PM
now there's a bird that can carry a coconut
Posted by: monty at Oct 23, 2008 3:34:40 PM
We farewell the godwits in March, welcoming them back in September.
Posted by: Eric Crampton at Oct 23, 2008 4:40:28 PM
Tyler Cowen FAIL:
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/01/if_i_believed_i.html
Posted by: Vic at Oct 23, 2008 5:26:58 PM
Wow - 7242 miles in 8 days is averaging almost 38 mph.
Posted by: fish on a bicycle at Oct 23, 2008 5:49:57 PM
this post is second only to the flying puffin in terms of MR blog posts about birds.
This is better than the flying puffin....
Posted by: at Oct 23, 2008 5:51:46 PM
monty...it depends on how he grips it.
Posted by: shawn at Oct 23, 2008 8:55:53 PM
Grippin' it? I depends on how they're grippin' it, you say? You're mad, you are.
Look, the only Scolopacidae large enough to carry a coconut is the Eastern Curlew, but they give up their migratory excursions long before Alaska. Unless two of 'em carried it together ...
Posted by: Eric H at Oct 23, 2008 9:48:21 PM
what does that translate to as far as energy consumption per mile flown, per pound?
Me thinks in this new dawning age of resource utilization efficiency, that a new list of Animal heroes beyond the usual, most fanged, poisonous or cutest, should be adopted.
Posted by: nyongesa at Oct 24, 2008 5:38:03 AM
Is that where Godwit's law comes from? What do these birds have to do with the Nazis?
Posted by: John S. at Oct 24, 2008 6:44:03 AM
Bar-tailed Godwit Updates, from the USGS
http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/shorebirds/barg_updates.html
Posted by: at Oct 24, 2008 7:08:11 AM
http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/shorebirds/barg_updates.html
Posted by: at Oct 24, 2008 7:08:54 AM
What do you mean? An African or European bar-tailed godwit?
Posted by: King Arthur at Oct 24, 2008 1:06:49 PM
This feat becomes more impressive when you turn to page 2 and discover that each bird monitored in the study had:
"A one-ounce, battery-powered device was surgically implanted in them, with the antennas exiting their bodies just beneath the tail."
Posted by: junknomad at Oct 25, 2008 12:07:10 AM
now if you want to 裝潢網，you can search for 室內設計 and 裝潢資訊 and 室內設計資訊網 to trans the words，who can help me?
Posted by: design at Oct 29, 2008 2:16:46 AM
Me thinks in this new dawning age of resource utilization efficiency, that a new list of Animal heroes beyond the usual, most fanged, poisonous or cutest, should be adopted.
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