Tiny songbird. 42 oz (12 gram) Blackpoll Warbler flies from 1,410 to 1,720 miles (2270 to 2770 km) over the sea non-stop every year in an incredible migration feat scientists describe as “on the brink of impossibility”. A study of the Blackpoll Warbler was conducted to determine if it is larger than a sparrow or slightly bigger than an Eurasian wren. Its tiny size makes it incredibly difficult for scientists to track its movements from the Northeastern Coast of South America down to northeastern North America. Bill DeLuca (an environmental conservation researcher fellow at University of Massachusetts Amherst) was the first author. He and his colleagues published the findings in Biology Letters. Blackpoll Warblers were equipped with miniaturized light level geolocators that they carried on their backs. Photo: Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Dr. DeLuca stated that for small songbirds we only now begin to understand the routes of migratory birds that link temperate breeding areas to tropical wintering regions. Researchers explained that little was known about smaller bird migrations, due to the inability to attach small tracking devices. Biologists have hypothesized since the late 1950s that the Blackpoll Warbler, Setophaga striata (or Blackpoll Warbler) left the east coast of North America in autumn (autumn), and then flew to the Great Antilles or northeastern coasts of South America in the fall. The geolocators reveal that Blackpoll Warblers are orange in North America and white-grey in South America. (Image: Biology letters) Blackpoll Warbler is an impressive migrator. We know that larger birds like gulls, sandpipers, and albatrosses can fly great distances over the ocean. Researchers from University of Massachusetts, University of Guelph (Canada), University of Vermont (US), Acadia University Canada (Canada), Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute US), Acadia University Canada (Canada) and Long Point Bird Observatory Canada attached small devices to 20 Blackpoll Warblers of Nova Scotia as well as another 20 bird in Vermont. They wanted to examine the movements of the birds and find out if this small forest dweller did something that most others would not dare. The tracking data shows that the birds traveled from Nova Scotia and Vermont to Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, stopping to eat and rest. The birds then flew across the Caribbean Sea to their winter destination in Venezuela or northern Columbia. The authors wrote: “The Blackpoll Warbler, a 12 g boreal forest songbird, completes an autumn transoceanic migration ranging from 2270 to 2770 km (mean +- s.d. : 2540 +- 257) and requiring up to 3 days (62 h +- 10) of non-stop flight.” “This is one of the longest non-stop overwater flights recorded for a songbird and confirms what has long been believed to be one of the most extraordinary migratory feats on the planet.” To have an idea of the scale between, for example, an Albatross (weighing up to 10 kg) and the Blackpoll Warbler. The Albatross weighs 833 more. So, weight-for-weight, the Albatross would need to fly 1,249,500 miles non-stop to achieve what the Blackpoll Warbler does, i.e. It would have to circle the Earth times without stopping. Refer to: William V. DeLuca. Bradley K. Woodworth. Christopher C. Rimmer. Peter P. Marra. Philip D. Taylor. Kent P. McFarland. Stuart A. Mackenzie. D. Ryan Norris. “Transoceanic migration by a 12 g songbird.” Biology Letters. Published April 1, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2014. 1045.
