[HokkaidoStu]

Just saw on yahoo news ( sorry-I'm too lazy to type the URL! ) that a Black Tailed Gull has been seen in Chicago. They're dirt common here in Japan ( and some adjacent East Asian coasts ) but what the hell is it doing in Chicago????? It's a ( I guess ) 15 hour flight from Japan by Jumbo...........

Anyone see it???

What rarity has travelled the greatest distance? Ancient Murrelet in UK? ( Oh I guess Albatrosses might claim the prize.....so excluding exclusively maritime seabirds that habitually migrate vast distances...)

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Stu,

Interesting to point out that of all the species on the UK list, the one that has to come the greatest distance (from its nearest breeding grounds) is actually a regular migrant - Sooty Shearwater, nearest breeding grounds on the Falkland Islands, 8,000 miles away. There aren't any vagrants that have come from further.

Michael

[Charles Harper]

Which makes sense, and may apply to other land masses-- birds intending to come by would travel with purpose, whereas vagrants just stumble in by accident. The former would probably travel farther in a 'straight' line. (I know, the Sooties go in a big circle...)

[Pterodroma kid]

Hi

I'm not sure what the precise distance is but I once read somewhere that a Brown Shrike in Western Ireland was thought to be of the Chinese race and was considered to be the most far flung vagrant in the British Isles. Several East Siberian waders have turned up in Britain but the distance to there is only really dramatic when viewed on a flat map rather than a globe. I think there may have been other North American records of Black-tailed Gulls, including some on the east coast!

Julian

[Darrell Clegg]

I think the humble Norther Wheatear is the bird I most admire for its migration prowess. The whole of the world population winter in South Africa. Some of them end up in Greenland and Alaska - AS PART OF THEIR NORMAL MIGRATION!!!! . Whichever way you look at it, for a landbird that's a hell of a journey.

Darrell

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Julian,

Just worked that one out - the north-western edge of the range of Lanius cristatus lucionensis (I presume that's the relevant race?), to western Ireland: 4900 miles. So barely more than half of what Sooties do every year!

Note: both measured as straight-line distances

Michael

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Darrell,

For Northern Wheatear, tried Barrow AK to Durban South Africa: 9500 miles. Now that IS impressive!

Michael

[Pterodroma kid]

Sorry Michael but in my answer I was referring to the original question about vagrants and non-seabirds. Wheatears mostly winter north of the equator I think (??).

How about the longest non-stop migration? Maybe Bristle thighed Curlew or American Golden Plover which fly across the Pacific from Alaska to places like New Zealand. Really awesome!

Julian

[Michael Frankis]

And better yet . . .

An Arctic Tern chick, ringed as a chick, not yet fledged:

Ringed: June 1982, Farne Islands, UK - 55°37'N 1°39'W

Retrapped: October 1982, Melbourne, Victoria, OZ - 37°52'S 145°08'E

10,470 miles - in less than 4 months from fledging.

Michael

[Beverlybaynes]

The Black-tail has been causing quite a bit of excitement on IN-BIRD. It's been seen by quite a few birders now in Indiana as it has ranged to the Indiana lakeshore, which begins about 30 miles from downtown Chicago.

Speculation is that it possible got here via a container ship of some sort, which would mean a hugely long trip from Japan, as Chicago is an eastern port, with access through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, rather than the Pacific.

However it got here, I'd love to see it, but just don't have the time to run up to the Lake today.

[Beverlybaynes]

And as far as continental vagrancy, a Murrelet of some sort (Marbled, perhaps) was seen on the Ohio River last October near Louisville.

As Kentucky 'owns' most of the river, it was never thoroughly seen in Indiana waters (the north shore), although lots of Indiana birders made the trek in hopes of that happening.

[Harry Hussey]

Hi Julian and Michael,
Sorry to be a little pedantic,but the Brown Shrike that turned up in Ballyferriter,Co.Kerry in Nov.1999 was thought to be an intergrade between nominate cristatus and lucionensis.I realise that this will not add to the distance covered by the bird,just thought I'd point it out!
...and yes,I did see it!;-)
Harry H

[Darrell Clegg]

Sorry, I should have said Southern Africa for Wheatear wintering rather than South Africa. They winter south of the sahara, as far down as Zambia.

Darrell

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Darrell,

That still makes potentially 8560 miles (Barrow AK - Lusaka, Zambia). I doubt any other passerines get close to that.

Michael

[Pterodroma kid]

Maybe Arctic Warbler does, it breeds as far west as Scandinavia and winters as far away as New Guinea and Northern Australia!

Julian

[Charles Harper]

Are we talking about individuals or species? Presumably individuals at the (e.g. northern) exteme of a breeding range will not normally winter at the opposite (e.g. southern) extreme of a wintering range. This is most obvious in areas of 'permanent residency' where summering individuals move south and are replaced by wintering individuals from the north (in the Northern Hemisphere).

[Michael Frankis]

Originally posted by Charles Harper
Are we talking about individuals or species? Presumably individuals at the (e.g. northern) exteme of a breeding range will not normally winter at the opposite (e.g. southern) extreme of a wintering range. This is most obvious in areas of 'permanent residency' where summering individuals move south and are replaced by wintering individuals from the north (in the Northern Hemisphere).

Hi Charles,

Actually, they very often do. As an example, British breeding Common Ringed Plovers are largely sedentary, or only move a short distance (even northward! - some Norfolk CRP breeding @53°N winter in Northumberland @ 55°N), whereas high arctic breeding CRP winter way down in South Africa. Same too Greenshanks; the Scottish breeders winter in Ireland and Britain, while the northern Scandinavian breeders winter in west Africa.

A phenomenon known as 'leap-frogging'; there are many other examples, so much so that I'd say it is probably the norm, rather than the exception.

Then you also get strange cases like the Blackcap (a warbler), where UK breeders winter in Spain & NW Africa, but the ones that winter in Britain are mainly from east-central Europe (Austria etc), migrating northwest (!) for the winter.

Or Red Knot, where birds breeding in northern Siberia (Taimyr) pass through Britain on autumn passage on their way to winter in west Africa, while another population breeding in NE Canada & Greenland winters in Britain, not arriving until a month after the last Siberian birds have moved on. A sort of avian cross-roads!

Michael

[Michael Frankis]

Originally posted by Pterodroma kid
Maybe Arctic Warbler does, it breeds as far west as Scandinavia and winters as far away as New Guinea and Northern Australia!

Julian

Hi Julian,

That'd be about 5500-6000 miles

Michael

[Charles Harper]

A phenomenon known as 'leap-frogging'; there are many other examples, so much so that I'd say it is probably the norm, rather than the exception.

I wonder, then, if races (no pun intended) thereby emerge?

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Charles,

Yep, I guess they do - e.g. the Ringed Plovers in the Arctic are a different race (tundrae) to the UK birds (hiaticula)

Michael