Alpine swifts fly for six months at a time, study finds

Researchers who attached electronic monitors to half a dozen Alpine swifts were shocked to discover that migrating birds fly nonstop for 200 days.

That's right, the birds remained airborne for more than six months, eating, drinking and sleeping on the fly, so to speak. Swiss scientists recently published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

Since the 1970s, ornithologists have speculated that the alpine swift's smaller cousin, the common swift, stayed airborne for much of the year, although that concept is based mostly on short-term radar data.

In fact, only aquatic animals like dolphins have been proven capable of such long-term locomotion. (Unlike humans, dolphins sleep by resting one half of their brain at a time.)

Recently, however, researchers at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and the Bern University of Applied Sciences captured six Alpine swifts before their epic migration to western Africa.

Each of the birds was harnessed with an electronic monitor that was slightly smaller than a postage stamp.

The devices used sunlight to track the bird's location, and also measured changes in their body position and movement.