Yaël: [YAWN] Ooh--Sorry Don, I was up all night on an overseas flight and then came      straight into the studio.

Don: You must be exhausted!

Y: Well, it was really nothing compared to the flights bar-tailed godwits make each year!

D: Bar-tailed what?

Y: The bar-tailed godwit is a one to one-and-a-half-pound wading bird with long legs      and a long bill. Some godwits spend the winter along the coasts of New Zealand but      migrate to and from Alaska each summer to breed. A female bar-tailed godwit holds      the record for the longest non-stop migratory flight ever recorded -- an eight-day,      11,500 kilometer journey without stopping for food, drink, rest or sleep.

D: That's over 7000 miles! But how do they know the flight was non-stop?

Y: A team of scientists fitted thirteen bar-tails in New Zealand with lightweight satellite      tags. The tags tracked the location and altitude of the birds during their migration      north. On the way to Alaska, the thirteen tagged birds made the trip in two legs.      Most stopped in China after flying over 6000 miles, then continued on another 3000      miles to Alaska.

     The satellite tags were only expected to work long enough to record the northward      flights. But the researchers were excited when one bird's tag was still working when      she made her return flight to New Zealand. It was on this return trip that the eight-      day record-breaking flight was made.

D: Well, I'm impressed!

Y: [YAWNS] Call me a wimp, Don, but I'm obviously not a bar-tailed godwit. I need      to get some sleep!

D: Good idea. Sweet dreams.  

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