Distance and route
Egevang and colleagues tracked 11 terns from Greenland and Iceland. The lifetime estimate is theirs too.
Hi. I'm Pip, a tern.
Meet Pip
Two summers a year and one yellow scarf.
Pip is an Arctic tern. In FarAbout he talks you through each answer: a cheer for the right ones, a puzzled look at the misses.
Field notes: the Arctic tern
Everything here is true of real terns, unless it mentions a scarf.
- Weight
- About 100 g, roughly a bar of soap.
- Distance
- The longest commute of any animal on record. 70,900 km a year on average, in a study of 11 tracked birds. That is one and three-quarter times around the Equator.
- Route
- A huge S up the Atlantic on the way north, riding the winds, at about 520 km a day.
- Summers
- Two a year. It breeds in the Arctic, then spends December to March in the far south. Some terns see more daylight than any other species.
- Lifespan
- About 13 years is typical. One ringed bird reached 31. The tracking study estimates a long life could add up to 2.4 million km, about three trips to the Moon and back.
- Lunch
- Flies slowly upwind, hovers, then plunges into the water after it.
- Temper
- Near the nest, parents dive at intruders and strike them.
- Not to be confused with
- A penguin. Only one of them flies.
- Scarf
- Yellow. Worn by Pip. No wild sightings.
Why a tern
FarAbout teaches all 197 countries, two new ones each day. Arctic terns reach every ocean and come close to every continent. That seemed like the right bird to ask for directions.
What he says
Gut feeling first. No marks.
After a Daily or a lesson he tells you a few lines about a real place, using facts we've checked. He never mentions your streak.
Where the facts come from
Weight, age and daylight
Measurements and ringing records from the British Trust for Ornithology.
Lunch, temper and range
The Arctic tern's entry in Audubon's field guide.