For the first time, scientists have proven the tiny blackpoll warbler makes an incredible non-stop journey from New England and Canada to South America.
Every fall, the boreal forest songbird makes the exhausting 1,410 to 1,721 mile migration over the Atlantic Ocean, and it takes them only two or three days to arrive at their destination, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst reported. The determined birds land around Puerto Rico, Cuba and the islands known as the Greater Antilles, and then move on to northern Venezuela and Columbia.
"For small songbirds, we are only just now beginning to understand the migratory routes that connect temperate breeding grounds to tropical wintering areas. We're really excited to report that this is one of the longest nonstop overwater flights ever recorded for a songbird, and finally confirms what has long been believed to be one of the most extraordinary migratory feats on the planet," said first author Bill DeLuca, an environmental conservation research fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The blackpoll warbler is the first forest-dwelling bird known to make a trans-oceanic flight. Most migratory songbirds that winter in South America fly south through Mexico and Central America, instead of making a risk trip across the ocean. Modern geolocators that weigh only 0.5 grams allowed scientists to attach them to the small birds' backs like "backpacks." A research team fitted 20 birds from Vermont and 20 from Nova Scotia with technology, and tracked their movement during the migratory months.
"It was pretty thrilling to get the return birds back, because their migratory feat in itself is on the brink of impossibility. We worried that stacking one more tiny card against their success might result in them being unable to complete the migration. Many migratory songbirds, blackpolls included, are experiencing alarming population declines for a variety of reasons, if we can learn more about where these birds spend their time, particularly during the nonbreeding season, we can begin to examine and address what might be causing the declines," DeLuca said.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Biology Letters.
