A female shorebird from Alaska, like the one pictured above, recently flew all the way from Alaska to New Zealand covering a mind boggling distance of 7,145 miles (11,500 kilometers) without stopping for food or drink, making it the longest recorded uninterrupted bird migration. Here are some numbers which will make this feat even bigger. The bird a bar-tailed godwit completed the journey in 9 days.
- 3471 miles (5585 km) is the distance from London to New York
- 3,417 miles (5,556 km) is the range of a Boeing 737
- 3200 miles (4,800km) is the range of a F16.

"The prospect of a bird flying all the way across the Pacific was so much further than what we thought possible, it seemed ludicrous," said Phil Battley of New Zealand's Massey University who took part in the study by the U.S. Geological Survey and PRBO Conservation Science, a California-based nonprofit dedicated to bird research.
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