Arctic Terns Never Fly the Road Less Taken

Source: Arctic Terns Never Fly the Road Less Taken

The Arctic tern is known for its record-breaking long migration. Every year these small birds migrate from the Arctic to the Antarctic—a daunting round-trip of about 18,600 miles (30,000 kilometers).https://f71be0175a568d448ad67d4f87171416.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

But terns don’t get bored and mix it up on their routes. New research finds that these slender, far-flying birds use just a few select routes for their travels.¹

“The Arctic tern’s migration is noteworthy because it holds the world record for the longest migration of any animal, and therefore interacts with a variety of ecosystems along the way,” lead author Joanna Wong, a graduate of the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) master’s program at the University of British Columbia, tells Treehugger.

The small seabird breeds in the Arctic and spreads the rest of its nonbreeding time in the Antarctic.²

“I find that particularly impressive because they make this grand journey (and back) every year, and they have been known to live up to 30 years so they are really covering quite a remarkable distance throughout their lives (especially relative to their small size!),” Wong says.  

The population of Arctic terns is decreasing, reports the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They’re threatened by predators such as mink, as well as the loss of habitat and key prey due to temperature changes.³

“We don’t have a more far-ranging animal. They are an indicator species that can tell us so much about the different ecosystems that they travel through,” Wong says. “If they don’t make it to their destination in one year, then you know there might be an environmental problem somewhere along their route.”