In 2022, a bar-tailed godwit named B6 set a new world record for the longest non-stop bird migration after flying 8,425 miles from Alaska to Australia at just 4 months old.

World’s Longest Non-Stop Migration

Bar-tailed godwits are small wading birds with a 27-31 inch wingspan, weighing around 0.5-1 pounds. One of the most interesting facts about these creatures is that they’re capable of shrinking their internal organs in order to store more fat to have energy for a longer journey.

“We used to think they stopped on route,” Sean Dooley of BirdLife Australia told IFLScience. But, along their journey, the landmasses they fly over “are generally not good feeding places for these birds,” Dooley confirmed.

In an attempt to better understand the migration techniques and patterns of juvenile bar-tailed godwits, a study equipped the birds with small 5-gram solar-powered satellite transmitters, individually coded metal bands, and leg flags so they could be identified as they migrated south.

“The package has to be so small given this bird travels 12,000 kilometres. It can’t have any impact on the migration or welfare of the birds,” Dr Eric Woehler of Birdlife Tasmania told the BBC.

Beginning by feeding on the Kuskokwim Delta near Nome, Alaska, B6 arrived in Australia 11 days later. Though birds migrate similarly long distances each year, this specific southern migration pattern has never been tracked before.

Alaska provides approximately 37 migratory shorebird species with food through its excess of coastal ecosystems. Bar-tailed godwits typically feed on insects, worms, mollusks, and crustaceans.

Among the goals of the US Geological Survey (USGS) Alaska Science Center is to identify key migration and breeding sites and explore the reasons for declines in shorebird populations. Information from studies like this can help scientists and other groups understand the threats these species face.