Birds fly over 7000miles non-stop

[Frank Whiteley]

You need to register to read this article about an amazing migration
by the Bar-tailed Godwits, flying 5-9 days without rest to cover over
7000 miles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102102685.html

[Karl Striedieck]

About 10 years ago Charlie Spratt, John Good and I visited a Laysan
albatross colony on Kauai (Hawaii) and learned of a research project that
was tracking the birds with gps telemetry. There was a website where you
could get the lat/longs of the subject birds and track them on your National
Geographic globe. During the nesting season when the birds were feeding
their young they would soar (dynamically) to about 100 miles off Seattle,
then down to about San Francisco and back to the nest, barf up a meal for
the chick and do it all over again.

Some of the birds made similar trips to the Aleutians.

Karl Striedieck


"Frank Whiteley" > wrote in message
...
> You need to register to read this article about an amazing migration
> by the Bar-tailed Godwits, flying 5-9 days without rest to cover over
> 7000 miles.
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102102685.html

[Mike the Strike]

On Oct 24, 5:58*pm, "Karl Striedieck" > wrote:
> About 10 years ago Charlie Spratt, John Good and I visited a Laysan
> albatross colony on Kauai (Hawaii) and learned of a research project that
> was tracking the birds with gps telemetry. There was a website where you
> could get the lat/longs of the subject birds and track them on your National
> Geographic globe. During the nesting season when the birds were feeding
> their young they would soar (dynamically) to about 100 miles off Seattle,
> then down to about San Francisco and back to the nest, barf up a meal for
> the chick and do it all over again.
>
> Some of the birds made similar trips to the Aleutians.
>
> Karl Striedieck
>
> "Frank Whiteley" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
> > You need to register to read this article about an amazing migration
> > by the Bar-tailed Godwits, flying 5-9 days without rest to cover over
> > 7000 miles.
> >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR200...

On a recent visit to the Albatross Colony on the south island of New
Zealand, I discovered that researchers report juveniles fly from the
nest and only return for breeding, maybe a year or two later, in which
period they don't set foot on land. In the process, they
circumnavigate the globe several times. I watched and photographed
several birds dynamic soaring and they definitely use the zooming
technique that has been described here before.

Of course, albatrosses are pretty big. The migration of smaller birds
and butterflies is perhaps more astonishing.

Mike

[Andy[_1_]]

On Oct 26, 11:46*am, Mike the Strike > wrote:

>in which period they don't set foot on land.

But curious minds want to know if they alight on the water.

Andy

[danlj]

On Oct 28, 1:31*pm, Andy > wrote:
> On Oct 26, 11:46*am, Mike the Strike > wrote:
>
> >in which period they don't set foot on land.
>
> But curious minds want to know if they alight on the water.

They do. The detail is in
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/ecocenter/alba.html
Apparently they can make shallow dives under water, and, if they land
on water, they can become trapped there - becalmed.

See also
How to Spy on an Albatross - tracking birds -
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1169/is_1999_Feb-March/ai_53939202

Breeding Season in Albatross Land
http://www.topp.org/blog/breeding_season_albatross_land

a lovely photo of an albatross
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/12.cover-expansion
and the article to which it refers - Evidence for olfactory search in
wandering albatross
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/12/4576

And a technical article with some amazing tracking maps -
Interpolation of animal tracking data in a fluid environment
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/209/1/128?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=median&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=20&resourcetype=HWFIG

Dan Johnson