Study
Extreme endurance flights by landbirds crossing the Pacific Ocean: ecological corridor rather than barrier?
Gill, Robert E.; Tibbitts, T. Lee; Douglas, David C.; Handel, Colleen M.; Mulcahy, Daniel M.; Gottschalck, Jon C.; Warnock, Nils; McCaffery, Brian J.; Battley, Phil F.; Piersma, Theunis
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2009
Bar-tailed godwits were fitted with satellite transmitters and tracked from Alaska across the Pacific, with departure timing compared against weather systems.
- Studied in
- Limosa lapponica baueri
- Sample size
- bar-tailed godwits carrying satellite transmitters
Birds flew directly from Alaska to New Zealand and eastern Australia over open ocean, without landing, on flights lasting several days and covering distances above ten thousand kilometres; departures coincided with favourable wind systems.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The Pacific crossing is a viable route rather than a barrier, made possible by extreme fuel loading and by departing with the weather.
How NatureHQ reads it
The record behind the nonstop-flight claim, and the reason NatureHQ can state it at all: before satellite tags, a nonstop ocean crossing was an inference from the absence of sightings. It is also where the "never stops" phrasing needs care — the southbound leg is nonstop, and the northbound return is not.
- Small samples, as transmitter mass limits which birds can carry one.
- One subspecies on one route; other godwit populations do something different.
- Transmitters add mass and may themselves affect performance.
Putting a transmitter on a godwit and waiting nine days
Do bar-tailed godwits cross the Pacific in one flight, or island-hop where nobody is watching?
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: The Royal SocietyPublished by the Royal Society.
doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.1142
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-03.