Tiny songbird can fly the Atlantic, scientists confirm
telegraph.co.uk
telegraph.co.uk
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?
Although not as far, the much smaller (.15oz versus 4.2oz) ruby-throated hummingbird makes a lengthy, non-stop trip across the ocean as well. Their average trip entails a 500-600 mile journey from the Southern United States over the Gulf of Mexico to Central America and then up to 1000 miles more over land. Unlike the warbler, hummingbirds leaving from Louisiana or Texas have no land mass in between, so they're most assuredly going non-stop.
> Edit: not sure why I was downvoted. Did I make a mistake?
Maybe it wasn't intentional. I know some people accidentally mash the wrong arrow on mobile devices and you can't take back a vote.
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.
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
> 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