How far do shorebirds migrate?
Shorebird migrations are the endurance marathons of the natural world. For species that breed in the Arctic and winter at the southern tip of South America – Red Knots, Buff-breasted Sandpipers, and Hudsonian Godwits – annual migrations span 20,000 miles a year. Red Knots fly every spring from Brazil to Delaware Bay non-stop before continuing on to their breeding grounds in the remote Arctic. By its 13th birthday, a Red Knot will have flown a distance equal to the moon and back. The migration champion may be the Bar-tailed Godwit, which leaves its breeding grounds in Alaska and flies over 7,150 miles non-stop to “winter” in New Zealand, a flight that may require 100 straight hours in the air. No human athlete can match that amount of exercise without food or water!
