After extensive research, researchers discovered that the Blackpoll Warbler flies non-stop from North America’s northeast, traveling for 3 days before reaching South America. This tiny songbird is just slightly larger than the Eurasian wren (British wren) and can fly across oceans without stopping to eat or rest. The little bird flew across the ocean without stopping for food or rest, according to one of the researchers. Bill DeLuca is an environmental conservation researcher fellow at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He said that the little bird’s feat was “on the brink of impossibility”. Vermont Center for Ecostudies. “This is one of longest nonstop overwater flight ever recorded for songbirds and confirms long-held beliefs about one of nature’s most remarkable migratory feats. Before taking to the skies, the birds accumulate fat. This fat allows them to fly for hours without stopping for water or food. The latest research, which was published in the Academic Journal Biology Letters (citation above), explains that many fundamental aspects of migration are still a mystery. This is due to our inability of following small animals over long distances. Biologists have known for over 50 years that Setophaga striata, the Blackpoll Warbler, flew continuously over the Atlantic Ocean from its north eastern North America home. It then returned to the Caribbean Sea in autumn. Blackpoll Warbler weighs about half as much as a standard ballpoint pen. Image: Wikimedia. The Blackpoll Warbler is now a super migrater, joining its bigger cousins. We know that large birds like sandpipers and albatrosses can fly great distances over the ocean. As part of this study, a team of scientists from Canada, the US and the UK placed tiny tracking devices on 40 Black Warblers. These were 20 in Nova Scotia as well as 20 Vermont. They monitored their movements. The researchers wanted to find out if this small forest dweller could do what its fellows cannot. Researchers said that the bird traveled from North America to Puerto Rico, where it stopped for food and rest, before crossing the Caribbean Sea toward Venezuela and northern Columbia. The authors included this Abstract in their journal: “The Blackpoll Warbler is a 12 boreal forest songbird that completes an autumn transoceanic flight, which ranges from 2270 up to 2770 km. (mean +– s.d. : 2540 +– 257), and taking up to three days (62 non-stop flight. Chris Rimmer from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies said that they have only collected a small portion of their breeding area. For example, we don’t know much about Alaskan birds. Although this may be the largest warbler in North America, little information is available about the ecology or distribution of its wintering grounds in Venezuela, Amazon, and other countries. Biology Letter. Published April 1, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2014. 1045.
Tiny Blackpoll Warblers migrate thousands of miles without stopping
