Record #00390Nature archive
Longest Known Annual Round-Trip Migration by a Bird
The Arctic tern is known for exceptionally long annual migration. Newcastle University tracked one bird on an estimated 96,000-km round trip from the Farne Islands to Antarctic waters and back in 2015–2016.
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Current Record
about96,000km
Current record value
- Holder
- Arctic tern
- Location
- —
- Start date
- 2016
- Record status
- VerifiedView verification details ↗Report an issue
Overview
Archive NoteResearchers deployed lightweight geolocators on Arctic terns breeding on the Farne Islands, Northumberland. One bird departed in July 2015, traveled past western Africa and across the Indian Ocean, wintered near the Weddell Sea and returned the following spring.
Newcastle University reported an estimated 96,000-km round trip in 2016, compared with a previous reported 91,000-km route for a Netherlands-breeding bird. A 2019 follow-up studied additional routes and stopovers; these are individual estimated tracks, not a constant for every Arctic tern.
Record history
1 Milestones- about 96,000 kmArctic ternCurrent Record
Sources
Evidence & ReferencesVerification basis and limitations
VerifiedThe record conclusion has sufficient verification support.
Basis: direct confirmation by an authority
Newcastle University's first-party 2016 report documents one individual completing an estimated 96,000-km annual circuit, exceeding the earlier reported 91,000-km circuit. Its 2019 follow-up confirms the estimate. This is a reconstructed light-level geolocation track, not an exact tape-measured distance.
- Verification assessment
- 2026-11-05
- Last editorial review
- 2026-11-05
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