Three rufous hummingbirds tracked from Alaska to Mexico set a new distance record of 5,821 km

Three tiny hummingbirds tracked from Alaska have broken a known migration distance record for their species, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) said on 23 October. The rufous hummingbirds, fitted with miniature telemetry devices at the center this summer, flew south to Mexico; one reached Guadalajara.

Up to 5,821 kilometers

The three birds covered at least 5,553 km (3,450 miles), 5,678 km (3,528 miles) and 5,821 km (3,617 miles). Those are point-to-point minimums, so the real flights were probably longer. The longest beats the previous record of 5,679 km (3,529 miles), which had stood since 2010, when a hummingbird banded in Tallahassee, Florida, was recaptured 166 days later in Chenega Bay, Alaska.

The signals were picked up by receivers carried by rafters, hikers and cruise ships. Some of the birds flew straight across the open water of the Gulf of Alaska, a route the researchers had not expected.

A long trip for a 3-inch bird

Rufous hummingbirds breed farther north than any other hummingbird, as far as southeastern Alaska, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Measured by body size, their migration is one of the longest of any bird: at just over 3 inches long, a one-way trip from Alaska to Mexico of roughly 3,900 miles equals about 78 million body lengths, more than the Arctic tern's roughly 51 million. The species is on the lab's “Tipping Point” orange alert list of birds in steep decline.

The work was done with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Banding Coalition of the Americas and the Alaska HumTrack Project, and was funded entirely by private donations to AWCC.

A focused field season in 2027

The researchers plan a more focused field season in 2027 to learn where the birds travel and what habitat they need along the way. More migration stories are collected under birds.