Denise Goldberg's blog

Thursday, April 02, 2015

amazing journey

It was April 1st when I read an article in the Boston Globe about a tiny bird called a blackpoll warbler. At first I wondered if the article was an April Fool's joke; finding a research submission told me that it wasn't.

Tiny blackpoll warblers make mind-boggling migration

For decades, it’s been the stuff of birding legend: Each fall, fist-sized songbirds called blackpoll warblers leave the spruce forests of New England and eastern Canada and fly south across the open ocean toward South America.

Now, improbable though it seems, the rumors have been proven true. A research team led by an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst outfitted five birds with tiny geolocator backpacks and found that each completed the incredible journey, flying up to 1,721 miles in one go.

from the Boston Globe story, written by Carolyn Y. Johnson

I find it amazing that these tiny birds leave from New England and eastern Canada and fly to South America without stopping.

Curious? There is quite a bit of information in the Globe article; it's well worth reading.