[Travel] 11 days non-stop, absolutely amazing

[Is it PotG?]

How long would you last?

Bar-tailed godwit

 

[1066familyman]

Waiting for Godot.

Oh sorry, you said Godwit.

 

[chickens]

How long would you last?

Bar-tailed godwit



View attachment 153920

To answer your question, I would have plummeted gracelessly from the branch on which I was first perched, and face-planted the ground in a spectacular fashion.

 

[British Bulldog]

Poor thing had probably learned how to take off but not land.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Would have gone further but some spanner had glued a 4kg tracker to its back.

 

[TugWilson]

Birds , incredible creatures , i love all animals but Birds are my favourite , so interesting and intelligent . Remarkable achievement .

 

[Brok]

They do it all the time, apparently...

Long-Haul Godwit | EarthDate

 

[Zeberdi]

This is normal migration distances for this sub-species of Bar-tailed Godwit - it’s a record of tagged birds ie there will be thousands of individuals making the same annual journey from Alaska to New Zealand or Australia and back again in the Spring to breed which are not tagged. Pretty amazing nonetheless- it’s the species with the longest non-stop migration route!

Even more amazing are birds that spend the majority of their lives on the wing in constant flight - Common Swifts for example take 10 months of the year to migrate to and from Africa not landing except to lay their eggs in the other 2 months of the year. Swifts can live up to 20 years old - that’s equivalent to the birds flying to the moon and back again seven times!

Birds are pretty amazing

 

[Taybha]

Their helmets must be tiny

 

[Norman Potting]

Semi serious question. Why haven't they evolved so that they have a food source nearer to them ?

 

[Boroseagull]

Semi serious question. Why haven't they evolved so that they have a food source nearer to them ?

Basically down to waders feeding/breeding pattern. The far north during their breeding season April - June where there is maximum daylight on the feeding grounds. There they can quickly grow the juveniles ready to fly to the southern hemisphere during the southern summer. Feeding grounds in the north, Arctic Circle etc freeze so they move below Tropic of Capricorn to again obtain maximum feeding hours. You may think this is excessive but remember tides cover their breeding grounds twice a day. It's all part of the amazing, incredible and wonderful world of birds. We think we know a lot but trust me we don't and are constantly learning.

 

[Questions]

Their helmets must be tiny

And you’d know….

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Paul the Pigeons attempt to break Gary the Godwits World record exposed as a fraud...and fails spectacularly.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Small beans compared to this, arguably the greatest physical endurance feat undertaken by any human being (someone should do a poll):

On 17 September 2019, ultra-swimmer Sarah Thomas (USA) swam across the English Channel four times consecutively without stopping, as ratified by the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation. Thomas set out from Shakespeare Beach in Dover, UK, at just after midnight on 15 September 2019, swimming to Cap Gris-Nez in northern France. After completing the journey three more times, she arrived back at Shakespeare Beach at 6.30 a.m. (BST) two days later – a cumulative swimming time of 54 hours 10 minutes.

 

[Mellotron]

The sheer number of Welcome Breaks he must've gone past.

Impressive willpower.

 

[mikeyjh]

Birds , incredible creatures , i love all animals but Birds are my favourite , so interesting and intelligent . Remarkable achievement .

You've never met a pheasant have you?

 

[Marty McFly]

To answer your question, I would have plummeted gracelessly from the branch on which I was first perched, and face-planted the ground in a spectacular fashion.

Sounds like my chickens.

 

[TugWilson]

You've never met a pheasant have you?

Hundreds of the beauties , i briefly worked at a MH farm down here where they had a Chinese (Golden) Pheasant , utterly stunning . It`s the bastards that call shooting them a sport i don`t want to meet

 

[mikeyjh]

Hundreds of the beauties , i briefly worked at a MH farm down here where they had a Chinese (Golden) Pheasant , utterly stunning . It`s the bastards that call shooting them a sport i don`t want to meet

Oh, I entirely agree - It's the most ludicrous 'industry', their birds are 'captive' wen it legally suits them or 'wild' when it's time for release. Avian flu? Pah, get them out there. The fact that they're reared without the influence of an adult and in 'safe' spaces contributes to their complete lack of self preservation instinct. This time of year our lane can be chocka with them and they just won't move until you, almost literally, drive in to them. Watched a cat take one the other day, cat must have been p*ssing itself, just bounded up and took it, easy dinner.....

 

[Zeberdi]

Another impressive record - highest flying bird ever recorded was a Ruppells Griffin Vulture flying at 37,000 ft - their blood is able to process lower levels of oxygen making it possible for them to cope with high altitude.

https://ebird.org/species/ruegri1