{"id":1822,"date":"2026-06-23T09:24:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T08:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/forget-pole-to-pole-epics-the-shortest-bird-migration-is-under-300-meters\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T09:24:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T08:24:58","slug":"forget-pole-to-pole-epics-the-shortest-bird-migration-is-under-300-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/forget-pole-to-pole-epics-the-shortest-bird-migration-is-under-300-meters\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget Pole-to-Pole Epics: The Shortest Bird Migration Is Under 300 Meters"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><\/figure>\n<p><strong>When you think of seasonal bird migrations, you probably picture journeys of thousands of kilometers high above the oceans, but it turns out that the shortest migration doesn\u2019t exceed a few hundred meters.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mini-migration<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This record is held by the dusky grouse (<em>Dendragapus obscurus<\/em>), <strong>a <\/strong>North American bird closely related to pheasants and partridges. With a wingspan reaching up to 70 centimeters and a adult weight close to one kilogram, it is primarily found in the forests of the western United States, particularly the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">The Cozumel dwarf fox: one of the rarest canids in the world photographed for the first time<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Males display blue-gray plumage, orange caruncles, and a fuller tail and neck, while females wear a speckled brown that helps them blend into their forest surroundings. During the mating season, the males perform complex choreographies accompanied by subdued vocalizations to attract potential mates.<\/p>\n<p>According to Guinness World Records, the minuscule migration of <em>D. obscurus<\/em> takes it from the conifer forests, where it spent the cold season feeding on needles, to the lower, broadleaf forests, where buds, leaves and berries form the bulk of its meals.<\/p>\n<p>At the start of autumn, the inverse scenario occurs. On average, these movements do not exceed 300 meters.<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">This app indicates the best times to walk your dog when the asphalt gets too hot<\/span><\/section>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"730\" height=\"486\" src=\"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782203097_721_Forget-Pole-to-Pole-Epics-The-Shortest-Bird-Migration-Is-Under-300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1010275\"  ><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Distance records<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>At the other end of the spectrum, we find the Arctic tern (<em>Sterna paradisaea<\/em>), which nests beyond the Arctic Circle during the boreal summer and then heads south toward Antarctica, embarking on a staggering journey of more than 40,000 kilometers, with numerous layovers along the way.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to nonstop migration, the bar-tailed godwit (<em>Limosa lapponica<\/em>) holds the record. A few years ago, tracking devices revealed that a four-month-old individual covered 13,500 kilometers in just 11 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[262,1794,1310,107,260,1793,1795],"class_list":["post-1822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bird","tag-epics","tag-forget","tag-meters","tag-migration","tag-poletopole","tag-shortest","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1824,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822\/revisions\/1824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}