NEW ZEALAND: A small seabird has shown itself to be nature's most impressive long-haul flyer, covering up to 46,000 miles on its annual migration route across the Pacific.
The sooty shearwater breeds in New Zealand before setting off on epic journeys in search of food. Scientists tracked individual birds flying for 200 days in a figure-of-eight pattern which covered the whole of the Pacific Ocean.
Among the destinations visited by the birds were Japan, Alaska and California. The distance they covered easily breaks the previous record held by the Arctic tern, which travels 22,000 miles between the Polar ice caps.
Fully grown, the sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus) weighs about two pounds (0.9kg) and measures 20 inches (0.50m).
A team of researchers led by Dr Scott Shaffer, from the University of California in Santa Cruz, fitted 33 birds with miniature electronic tracking tags. The tags recorded movements, and provided information on air temperature and the depth to which the birds dived when feeding. The scientists wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: "These extraordinary migration routes represent the longest recorded of any animal tracked to date."
Data from 19 tags recovered with a full cache of information showed that the birds dived to an average depth of 46 feet (14m) to catch fish, squid and krill. But they had the ability to dive as deep as 225 feet (69m).
Sooty shearwaters are also found in the Atlantic Ocean and visit the coasts of Britain and Ireland.