Arctic tern’s new world migration record

This video says about itself:

13 February 2013

We went to Antarctica to see the penguins, and we certainly did. But we saw so much more wildlife: orcas and elephant seals and leopard seals and many different seabirds. My favorite is the Arctic tern, a little bird that migrates farther every year than any other in the world… from the Antarctic to the Arctic, and back – 20,000 miles every year.

The video features, eg, gentoo penguins and blue-eyed cormorants.

I was privileged to see a wintering Arctic tern in the Antarctic as well.

From Zeenews:

Record-breaking! Arctic Tern makes longest annual migration, covers 59,650 miles

Tuesday, June 7, 2016 – 12:27

An Arctic Tern, one of the smallest sea-birds, made the longest ever annual migration between July 25th, 2015 to May 4th, 2016, covering a distance of 59,650 miles from their North-East [England; Farne islands] homes, according to The Guardian reports.

For the first time, scientists at Newcastle University in collaboration with BBC’s Springwatch have mapped the annual migration of Arctic Terns from Northumberland to Antarctica and back with the help of electronic tags fitted on their bodies.

Scientists revealed that the total distance covered by the tiny bird in its meandering journey is more than twice the circumference of the our home planet.

The bird, which weighs just 100g, left its breeding grounds last July and flew down the west coast of Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean and arrived in Antarctica in November.

The previous record of 56,545 miles was also held by an Arctic Tern, who covered this distance on its polar flight from the Netherlands.

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