Natural History Wanderings

The BBC  reported on the discovery that Scottish Red-necked Phalaropes migrate  across the Atlantic via Iceland and Greenland, south down the eastern seaboard of the US, across the Caribbean and Mexico, ending up off the coast of Ecuador and Peru and then return via the same route in the spring. The discovery was made by attaching geolocators, weighing .6 grams, to the birds. It had previously been thought that the Scottish birds joined Scandinavian populations of Red-necked Phalaropes, who winter in the Arabian Sea.

This is still not the longest bird migration. Arctic Terns make an annual round trip of about 24,000 migrating between the north and south poles.

Read more at: BBC News – ‘Unique’ bird migration discovered.