From the tiniest hummingbird to the largest albatross, migratory birds are masters of endurance. Much like the world’s greatest athletes currently competing in the Olympics, thousands of bird species from around the globe undertake awe-inspiring feats that are beyond our comprehension. And much like the world’s Olympians, they embody the perfect blend of innate ability, learned experience, and dedicated preparation. But the Olympics only happen every four years for the Summer and Winter Games. Avian migration happens twice a year—every year. As birds get ready for yet another journey, here are some of the most athletic migration marvels they undertake.
Swimming
When we think of bird migration, swimming rarely comes to mind. However, that is precisely what the Scripps’s Murrelet does off the west coast of North America. Just smaller than an American Robin, the black-and-white Scripps’s Murrelet is one of the world’s southernmost species of alcids, breeding on islands from southern California to central Baja California, Mexico. After nesting, adults and their flightless young quickly leave their nesting islands, heading west and north in a post-breeding dispersal, arriving at their wintering grounds in the waters off central California almost entirely by sea. While they may not break records, taking about three months from fledging to arrival at the non-breeding grounds, they exemplify grit—a trait every Olympian shares. Other notable swimmers include the Common Murre and Harlequin Duck, both of which disperse with their young from their nesting areas to their breeding grounds primarily by swimming.
Long Jump
Migrating in a single leap, the Bar-tailed Godwit consistently holds the record for the longest nonstop avian migration, flying thousands of miles from Alaska, where they breed, to New Zealand and Australia, where they spend their non-breeding season keeping warm. Currently, the world record holder is a juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit, “B6,” that in October 2022, flew more than 8,435 miles nonstop in 11 days, from Alaska, where it was born, to Tasmania, Australia. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, the then-named Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made this discovery after equipping the individual with a small solar-powered satellite tag, allowing them to track its every movement. Close contenders in this event include the Pacific Golden-Plover, which also departs Alaska but flies nonstop to Hawaii, and the Blackpoll Warbler, which jumps from the Maritimes of Canada and northeast United States to South America.
Hurdles
This is a stacked event too close to call, with hundreds of migratory species, each employing different strategies, all going for gold. Still, the end goal is the same: to hurdle unproductive habitats and threats, hopscotching from their breeding grounds to their non-breeding grounds, often thousands of miles away, using critical stopover habitats along the way to rest and refuel. Nevertheless, it is hard not to think of Red Knots as the champion of hurdling across the Americas. Migrating knots use famed key stopover areas throughout the Western Hemisphere, such as Hudson Bay, Delaware Bay, the Gulf Coast, and the Atlantic coast of the Americas, as they migrate from their breeding grounds on the Arctic tundra to southern South America. Other top contenders famous for hurdling include the closely related the Semipalmated Sandpiper and Gray-cheeked Thrush.
Sprinting
To be a competitive sprinter requires getting to top speed in the shortest time possible. It also means being at the top of your game—no matter what comes your way. One bird that exemplifies this is the Whimbrel, a large shorebird found worldwide. In North America, it breeds in portions of Canada and Alaska and migrates as far south as southern South America each year. Satellite-tracked Whimbrels migrating during tropical storm season have been clocked at top speeds of 100 miles per hour. To achieve this, they use hurricanes and other tropical weather systems to slingshot them out of harm’s way and toward the finish line. Other fast fliers of note include many waterfowl, such as the Northern Pintail and Red-breasted Merganser, with the latter achieving speeds of at least 80 mph.
Click here to see the Whimbrel in action
Marathon
While other events in the Olympics total longer distances, none are as synonymous with endurance and fortitude as the marathon. During migration, there is one undisputed marathon gold medalist year after year—the Arctic Tern. Breeding circumpolar in the Arctic and sub-Arctic, this tenacious species migrates to spend its non-breeding season around the pack ice in Antarctica. It is the longest annual return migration of any species, with some tracked individuals from the Netherlands logging more than 50,000 miles in a single year! With the gold medal all but a lock for Arctic Tern, it comes down to the battle for silver and bronze. Also seeking an endless summer, Sooty Shearwaters are a top contender, migrating 40,000 miles annually in a figure-eight loop across the Pacific Ocean. Coming up close behind are a pair of shorebirds, the Red Knot and American Golden-Plover, each totaling around 20,000 miles annually.
