Categories
  Encyclosphere.org ENCYCLOREADER
  supported by EncyclosphereKSF

List of birds by flight heights

Topic: Biology

 From HandWiki - Reading time: 5 min

Short description: None


This is a list of birds that have been recorded flying at particularly high altitudes. The average altitude for avian flight during migration is 400—800 metres AGL.[1]

Birds by flight height

Bird Image Species Family Maximum height (AMSL) Details
Rüppell's vulture 100px Gyps rueppellii Accipitridae 11,300 metres (37,000 feet)[2] Vultures use their excellent eyesight to scan the landscape below from a relatively static aerial position. Instead of flying over a larger distance, they use elevation to expand their field of vision.[3] A bird strike was recorded at this height in 1973.[4]
Common crane 100px Grus grus Gruidae 10,000 metres (33,000 ft) This height was recorded above the Himalayas.[2] This is atypical; the species typically alters its migration routes to avoid mountains.[5] Across other parts of their range, they rarely reach altitudes higher than 1,000 metres.[6][7]
Bar-headed goose 100px Anser indicus Anatidae 8,800 metres (29,000 ft)[2][8][9] They also fly over the peaks of the Himalayas on their migratory path.[8]
Great snipe 100px Gallinago media Scolopacidae 8,700 metres (29,000 ft) Highest known individual of a group of great snipe tagged with data loggers. The species regularly migrates at average heights of 2,000 m at night and 4,000 m during daytime, with most birds regularly reaching 6,000 m. These flights were typically 4,000–7,000 km non-stop, lasting 60–90 hours.[10]
Whooper swan 100px Cygnus cygnus Anatidae 8,200 metres (27,000 ft) This height was attained by a flock of about 30 whooper swans flying south from Iceland over western Scotland to Northern Ireland, recorded by air traffic control radar and verified by an airline pilot diverted to check.[11] The birds were using a northerly 50 m/s (180 km/h) jet stream wind in the lower stratosphere to speed their migration, despite the ambient -48°C temperature.[12]
Alpine chough 100px Pyrrhocorax graculus Corvidae 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) This height was recorded on Mount Everest.[9]
Bearded vulture 100px Gypaetus barbatus Accipitridae 7,300 metres (24,000 ft)[4]
Black kite 100px Milvus migrans Accipitridae 6,500 metres (21,000 ft)[13]
Andean condor 100px Vultur gryphus Cathartidae 6,500 metres (21,000 ft)[14]
Mallard 100px Anas platyrhynchos Anatidae 6,400 metres (21,000 ft) This height was recorded over Nevada;[4][8][9] This record occurred when a Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop airliner operating a Western Airlines flight suffered a bird strike at cruising altitude.[15][4]
Bar-tailed godwit 100px Limosa lapponica Scolopacidae 6,000 metres (20,000 ft)[9][16] It can reach this height while migrating.
Black-tailed godwit 100px Limosa limosa Scolopacidae 5,956 metres (19,540 ft) The highest recorded on migration, with birds tagged with data loggers regularly migrating at over 5,000 metres.[17]
White stork 100px Ciconia ciconia Ciconiidae 4,800 metres (16,000 ft).[16] It can reach this height while migrating.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Axelson, Gustave (2021-10-13). "New BirdCast Analysis Shows How High Migrating Birds Fly". Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/new-birdcast-analysis-shows-how-high-migrating-birds-fly/. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Carwardine, Mark (2008). "Birds Highest Flying Birds". Natural History Museum Animal Records. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 124. ISBN 978-1-4027-5623-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=T3FEKopUFkUC&pg=PA124. 
  3. ↑ "The Ruppells Griffon Vulture; The Highest Recorded Flying Bird". 26 September 2012. https://blogs.bu.edu/bioaerial2012/2012/09/26/the-ruppells-griffon-vulture-the-highest-recorded-flying-bird/. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Laybourne, Roxie C. (December 1974). "Collision between a Vulture and an Aircraft at an Altitude of 37,000 Feet". The Wilson Bulletin (Wilson Ornithological Society) 86 (4): 461–462. ISSN 0043-5643. OCLC 46381512. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/wilson_bulletin/vol86/iss4/18. 
  5. ↑ Baraiya, H.L.; Sirola, G.; Baroth, A.; Kumar, R.S. (2025). "Tracking the long way around: seasonal migration strategies, detours and spatial bottlenecks in common cranes wintering in western India". Animal Biotelemetry 13 (1). doi:10.1186/s40317-025-00433-1. Bibcode: 2025AnBio..13...38B. 
  6. ↑ Johnsgard, Paul A. (1983). "Eurasian Crane (Grus grus)". Cranes of the World. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscicranes/17. 
  7. ↑ Skov, H.; Heinänen, S.; Mortensen, L.O.; Månsson, J.; Nilsson, L.; Tjørnløv, R.S.; Zydelis, R. (2025). "Flight Altitude of Common Cranes (Grus grus) Crossing the Arkona Basin (Baltic Sea): Implications for Offshore Wind Farm Development". Ecology and Evolution 15 (12). doi:10.1002/ece3.72714. PMID 41394195. Bibcode: 2025EcoEv..1572714S. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lincoln, Frederick C. (1999). Migration of Birds. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. p. 30. ISBN 0-16-061701-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=Gsp07mQKBuIC&pg=PA30. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Whiteman, Lily (2000). "The High Life". Audubon 102 (6): 104–108. http://archive.audubonmagazine.org/birds/birds0011.html. Retrieved 25 February 2014. 
  10. ↑ Lindström, Åke; Alerstam, Thomas; Andersson, Arne; Bäckman, Johan; Bahlenberg, Peter; Bom, Roeland; Ekblom, Robert; Klaassen, Raymond H.G. et al. (2021). "Extreme altitude changes between night and day during marathon flights of great snipes". Current Biology 31 (15): 3433–3439.e3. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.05.047. PMID 34197730. Bibcode: 2021CBio...31E3433L. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982221007454. Retrieved 2026-07-31. 
  11. ↑ Stewart, A. G. (1978). "Swans flying at 8,000 metres". British Birds 71 (10): 459–460. 
  12. ↑ Elkins, N. (1979). "High altitude flight by swans". British Birds 71 (5): 238–239. 
  13. ↑ Literák, Ivan; Škrábal, Jan; Karyakin, Igor V.; Andreyenkova, Natalya G.; Vazhov, Sergey V. (2 April 2022). "Black Kites on a flyway between Western Siberia and the Indian Subcontinent". Scientific Reports 12 (1): 5581. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-09246-1. PMID 35368027. Bibcode: 2022NatSR..12.5581L. 
  14. ↑ Gargiulo, Carolina Natalia (2012). Distribución y situación actual del cóndor andino (Vultur gryphus) en las sierras centrales de Argentina (PDF) (Thesis). Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
  15. ↑ Manville, Richard (March 1963). "Altitude record for Mallard, The Wilson Bulletin". Wilson Bulletin 75 (1). https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/wilson_bulletin/vol75/iss1/20/. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Elphick, Jonathan (2007). The Atlas of Bird Migration: Tracing the Great Journeys of the World's Birds. Struik. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-77007-499-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=j91I9I4pq20C&pg=PT28. 
  17. ↑ Senner, Nathan R.; Stager, Maria; Verhoeven, Mo A.; Cheviron, Zachary A.; Piersma, Theunis; Bouten, Willem (2018-06-27). "High-altitude shorebird migration in the absence of topographical barriers: avoiding high air temperatures and searching for profitable winds". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285 (1881). doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.0569. ISSN 0962-8452. PMID 30051848. Bibcode: 2018PBioS.28580569S. 



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Biology:List_of_birds_by_flight_heights&oldid=4566526"
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Source: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Biology:List_of_birds_by_flight_heights
46 views | Status: cached on September 14 2026 06:11:07
↧ Download this article as ZWI file
Encyclosphere.org EncycloReader is supported by the EncyclosphereKSF