Sucker won't wrap,  Sorry. Copy and paste.

Diaphone Jim wrote:

 This little guy, a Godwit, flew from Alaska to New Zealand non-stop recently.
8000 miles or so! 

  Is that what they call "Bird Flu"?

Never mind.

 

Clearly it's possible, because it  did it.

But I'd love to see a breakdown of the energy required to move a mass that distance at that speed, considering the prevailing wind patterns in that part of the word, and I'd like to see that compared to the energy stores in a typical muscle mass.  Sounds like a job for Randall Monroe.

How do we know the bird made the trip non-stop?

Google is full of birdish information...
A young bar-tailed godwit appears to have set a non-stop distance record for migratory birds by flying at least 13,560 kilometers (8,435 miles) from Alaska to the Australian state of Tasmania, a bird expert said Friday.
 
How are bar-tailed godwits able to fly such long distances without touching down? It's all about fattening up for the journey, plus a nifty evolutionary trick that allows them to shrink their organs to make room for more fat, according to Dooley.
 
In search of an endless summer, bar-tailed godwits fly 7,000 miles each year — from Alaska to New Zealand. And they do it without stopping to eat, drink or rest.
 
The bar-tailed godwit – aka Limosa lapponica – traveled from Alaska to Tasmania nonstop for 11 days, a journey of 8,425 miles (13,560 km).
 
The long migration flights of many species don't allow for many chances to stop and rest. But a bird using USWS could both sleep and navigate at the same time. There is evidence that the Alpine Swift can fly non-stop for 200 days, sleeping while in flight!
 
Fact Check-Albatrosses can go for years without touching the ground, but they do land on water. A meme on social media that states albatrosses go “years without landing” has triggered confusion among users, who wonder how these birds would eat if flying non-stop for such long periods of time.
 
That means the common swift holds the record for the longest continuous flight time of any bird. Alpine swifts can fly up to six months without stopping, and great frigate birds, with their giant 7½-foot wingspans, can soar across the Indian Ocean for about two months on end.
 
Study confirms that the bar-headed goose may be the world's highest flyer. In 1953, a mountain climber reported seeing a bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) soar over the peak of Mount Everest.
 
The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly in any direction. The unique architecture of its wings enables it to fly forward, backward, straight up and down, or to remain suspended in the air.
 
For the blackpoll warbler, such a feat is called their fall migration. Barely half an ounce (12 grams), these tiny birds fly from northeastern Canada to South America every fall.
 
Canada geese can travel 1,500 miles in a day if the weather permits. These birds tend to fly around 40 miles per hour during migration, though that can increase up to 70 miles per hour if they catch a strong tailwind.
 
Crows travel as far as 40 miles each day from evening roost sites to daytime feeding areas.
 
The Peregrine Falcon is indisputably the fastest animal in the sky. It has been measured at speeds above 83.3 m/s (186 mph), but only when stooping, or diving.