These paths may vary greatly from year to year and also by species. Although we often speak of routes and flyways, there is probably not a single square mile of the Earth's surface, excluding the polar ice caps, over which birds do not fly. The title for distance is held by the Arctic Tern. This small bird makes its journey from the Antarctic to the Arctic annually, a trip of 11,000 miles each way. The Bobolink is one of the top migrants in the Americas, covering 7,000 miles or more between the clover fields of Canada and the grasslands of Argentina.
Many migrants travel with a series of short flights and frequent stopovers.
Others make longer flights. During fall migration, the Red Knot may fly nonstop for 60 hours from the lower Arctic to the mudflats of New England, and then may continue its migration by flying nonstop to northern South America. The White-rumped Sandpiper, which migrates from Argentina to the Arctic, belongs to the group of birds that are among the fastest flyers. Some sandpipers have been clocked at more than 100 miles per hour. Many birds have been seen from airplanes.