WonsingtonFEATHRUARY 2025<br>
<br>
Prompt 19: Long Range<br>
-> Arctic Tern<br>
<br>
Have you ever thought about the circle of life and rebirth and such? Have you ever thought about which animal (or other creature) you would like to be reborn as? I have, but I've never really found an answer, until today. In my next life, I want to be an arctic tern please!<br>
<br>
Why, you ask? Let me explain:<br>
The arctic tern is famous for its migration (thus my choice for the "long range" prompt). Each and every year, it flies from its breeding grounds in the Arctic (hence the name "arctic tern" to the Antarctic - and back again! <br>
<br>
Just to make it clear how impressive that is: The shortest (!) distance between these two regions is 19,000km / 12,000mi! That is over 452 marathons!<br>
<br>
This means that these birds see not one, but two summers every year - and thus they see more daylight than any (!) other creature on this planet. Imagine: Two whole summers instead of the two sunny wednesdays we usually get (in Germany at least)! This could be us! Me and who? 👉👈<br>
<br>
Studies have shown that the remarkable flight of the arctic tern has even been underestimated for ages! That is because these birds do not fly in a straight line, thus taking the most direct route to their destination, but rather fly according to prevailing winds which they take advantage of. So, some birds fly up to 81,600km / 50,700mi per year. <br>
<br>
The average lifespan of the arctic tern is about 30 years. This means that it travels about 2.4 million km / 1.5 million miles during its life - the equivalent of more than three round-trips from Earth to Moon. Now tell me, how frickin' awesome is that?! 😍<br>
<br>
FUN FACT<br>
The arctic tern has been featured on postal stamps of several countries, including Canada, Cuba, Finland, and Iceland, as well as territories such as Åland, Alderney, and Faroe Islands.<br>
<br>
<a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/feathruary?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#feathruary</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/feathruary2025?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#feathruary2025</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/bird?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bird</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/birds?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#birds</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/birb?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#birb</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/birbs?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#birbs</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/birdart?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#birdart</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/digitalart?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#digitalart</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/drawing?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#drawing</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/tern?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#tern</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/terns?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#terns</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/arctictern?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#arctictern</a> <a href="https://gram.social/discover/tags/arcticterns?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#arcticterns</a>