A cuckoo broke a record after flying over 7,500 kilometers in seven days to migrate from Africa to England.
Carlton II flew 7,527 kilometers from Ivory Coast, West Africa, to Carlton Marshes, Suffolk. He "became the fastest tagged bird to make the trip after he arrived in Carlton Marshes in Suffolk," according to the Daily Mail.
Caring for birds in the UK
Dr. Chris Hewson from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) told the Daily Mail, "It is great to see Carlton II getting back to the UK so quickly." He is the lead scientist on the cuckoo tagging project that started monitoring Carlton II.
The record-breaking bird was named after Carlton, a village in England that is his returning territory in Suffolk. BTO scientists fitted a satellite tag on him in May 2018, which enabled them to track his arrival in the UK last week. He stopped briefly in Berkshire before continuing to Suffolk.
"Taking just a week to cover more than three thousand miles from Liberia to Berkshire is an awesome feat and something even swifts don't manage," added Dr. Hewson. He said with favorable conditions, cuckoos can quickly arrive in England from Africa.
A stopover
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) tracked Carlton II and two other cuckoos also bound for the UK. Carlton II overtook PJ and Sean, who stopped over in Spain and North Africa, respectively.
Carlton II has flown over 22,000 miles between England and Africa, and is the second cuckoo to be tagged in the area. He will be in Suffolk for four to six weeks, possibly breed, before he flies back to the Congo rainforest in Gabon, Central Africa.
Cuckoos face "high winds, ferocious hailstorms and thunderstorms, and lengthy sea crossings," Dr. Hewson said to the Daily Mail. It's always a relief for BTO when cuckoos return home because their journey is "full of hazards," he added.
BTO said three-quarters of breeding cuckoos have been lost in 25 years, while half of the UK's entire cuckoo population has died in the past 20 years.
Dr. Hewson added, "'As cuckoos spend more time outside of the UK than they do in it, it is vital to understand where they do, the journey they take to get there, and any pressures that might be contributing to their decline."
Other records set by birds
Carlton II broke just one of many flying records.
The Arctic tern holds the Guinness World Record for Longest migration by a bird. According to Guinness, "The Arctic tern migrates the greatest distance of any bird species, breeding north of the Arctic circle and then flying south to the Antarctic for the northern winter and back again, a round trip of approximately 80,467 km (50,000 miles)."
Arctic terns use the long daylight hours during the second summer in the southern hemisphere to feed. Most of them travel by sea and feed as they go.
The National Audubon Society (NAS) declared a new record holder for Longest Uninterrupted Flight: the common swift. They said common swifts "can stay in the air for up to 10 months without stopping. "
NAS said common swift mates raise their chicks in Scandinavia "for two months each year before taking off in August to feed on flying insects in the sub-Saharan jungles of Africa for the next 10 months." They can do this continuously for 10 months before returning to their nest or creating a new one.
