Talk about long haul: Arctic terns travel 44,000 miles EVERY year... but they do have a pit stop near Britain



The arctic tern may only weigh a quarter of pound but the dauntless bird will travel the equivalent of three return trips to the moon during its lifetime.



Scientists including a team from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) made the discovery after attaching tiny tracking devices to terns to map their mammoth migrations.

Arctic Tern with a geolocator tracking device attached to its leg. The bird was tracked on its epic journey from pole to pole

The results verified what has been suspected for decades, the small seabird makes an average journey of 44,000 miles each year, making it the longest annual migration in the world.

Arctic terns fly from pole to pole from their breeding grounds in Greenland to the Weddell Sea on the shores of Antarctica.

However, the birds do allows themselves a fuel stop of almost a month in a fish-rich area in the middle of the North Atlantic ocean.

They continue down the coast of north-west Africa but at the Cape Verde Islands half travel along the African coast while the rest cross the Atlantic and fly down the east coast of South America.

Migration patterns of the Arctic tern, from the breeding sites in Greenland and Iceland to the winter grounds at Antarctica. The birds take a month-long break in the Northern Atlantic to refuel

The return trip north in spring is twice as fast in a giant 'S' pattern. The detour of several thousand miles takes advantage of prevailing global winds to help the birds preserve energy.



Study leader Carsten Egevang, from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, said: 'This study on seabird migration has given us an incredibly detailed insight into how long-distance migrants behave at times of the year when it's normally impossible for us to follow them.'

Arctic terns can live up to 34 years. When the scientists added up the total distance each bird flew during its lifetime they found it equalled three round trips to the Moon - or more than 1.25 million miles.

'This is a mind-boggling achievement for a bird of just over 100 grams,' said Mr Egevang.