
Tiny songbird can fly the Atlantic, scientists confirm - ctingom
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11508675/Tiny-songbird-can-fly-the-Atlantic-scientists-confirm.html
======
ovis
This is impressive, but the headlines seem to overstate the journey.

My first surprise was that they fly from North America to South America,
rather than Old World to New World. I wrote that off as being my mistake -
Nova Scotia to Venezuela certainly counts as Atlantic.

But then, it turns out they (quite reasonably) appear to stop in Caribbean
islands along the way. To me, this doesn't qualify as "non-stop from New
England to South America".

In fact, the quoted 1700 miles is roughly 25 degrees of latitude, which I
don't believe would get to you South America, starting from Nova Scotia.

Still, further than I've ever flown.

Edit: not sure why I was downvoted. Did I make a mistake?

~~~
nkoren
SW Senegal is 1,600 miles from NE Brazil, so technically one _could_ cross the
Atlantic in the distance that these birds fly.

~~~
ovis
Ah, very well. Easterlies might make the return journey harder!

------
mark_l_watson
I have a difficult time believing this. About 25 years ago I was sailing from
San Francisco to San Diego in a small sailboat, and as usual we were about 20
miles offshore to avoid being in shipping lanes. We saw a small yellow canary
a half mile away flying, then dropping close to the water, struggling for
elevation, repeating this process of almost dropping into the ocean. It looked
pathetic and close to death.

The bird saw our boat and landed on it. We gave it water and food, trying not
to get close to it. We ended up going towards the shore because we wanted a
short stop in Santa Barbara and the bird stayed on our deck until we were very
close to shore.

~~~
yareally
> We saw a small yellow canary a half mile away flying, then dropping close to
> the water, struggling for elevation, repeating this process of almost
> dropping into the ocean. It looked pathetic and close to death.

That was pretty nice of you guys. There's quite a few yellow birds, but
perhaps it was an American Gold Finch[1]? Their flight pattern oscillates like
a sine wave similar to your what you describe, but not as close to the ground
normally of course. Actual canaries aren't native to the US, unless it was a
pet someone released.

Not every bird migrates or is a long distance flier either though.
Goldfinches, for example, stay in the same area all year round and would be
unlikely to have the endurance or flight skill to fly farther than to the next
feeding area. On the other hand, something like swallow is streamlined, and
speeds along like a feathery jet without much effort.

Goldfinches are nice little birds that sound a bit like a squeaky toy. I put
out some sunflower seeds at the window sill next to my PC and a few will show
up every day looking for their snack. They only eat seeds, no meat (even their
babies) and are generally cordial to each other in groups. They do have a
pecking order I've noticed though. Someone cuts in line and everyone gets a
bit upset, sort of like people.

[1]
[http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Goldfinch/id](http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Goldfinch/id)

------
snorkel
Article doesn't mention how many hours of flight ... I'm guessing at least 50?

~~~
sciencerobot
You're close. From the paper [1]:

> a 12 g boreal forest songbird, completes an autumn transoceanic migration
> ranging from 2270 to 2770 km (mean ± s.d.: 2540 ± 257) and requiring up to 3
> days (62 h ± 10) of non-stop flight

[1]
[http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/11/4/20141045](http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/11/4/20141045)

------
colincycle
4.2 ounces = 119.067997 grams

~~~
fallinghawks
I was gonna say, they missed a zero :/

------
fit2rule
Carrying coconuts, or not?

~~~
bradjohnson
Maybe if they were african songbirds.

