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The world’s most travelled bird
Flight to the Arctic
Flight to the Arctic
Arctic Tern The Arctic Tern is a seasoned traveller. It breeds in the Northern Hemisphere, mostly within the Arctic Circle, but flies to spend the northern winter in the Southern Hemisphere, mostly in the Antarctic ice-packs. This journey to the Antarctic enables the Arctic Tern to enjoy the benefits of a second summer with its long days and plentiful supply of food.

The round-trip journey between Arctic and Antarctic is 35,000 km (21,750 miles) -- roughly the same distance as the entire circumference of the earth.
[Move your mouse over the boxes to see the direction of flight]

Considering that some Arctic Terns live 30 years or more, this means that they have travelled over 1 million km (over 650,000 miles) in their lifetime. For birds that are only 38 cm long and 300 gm in weight, this is no mean achievement.

Arctic Terns breed in colonies numbering hundreds or sometimes thousands of pairs. The breeding colonies are generally very noisy, but every so often all the birds suddenly go completely quiet and then fly up together and out to sea. This odd behaviour is called "dread", but the reason for it is not understood.

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