To be honest, I first saw this idea pass through my Facebook feed a few days ago. then I saw a headline somewhere that said something about on of these Great Blue Herons flying almost 40 hours non-stop over the open ocean. And that got me thinking that maybe herons were the marathoners of the bird world.

I'm probably wrong about that, because probably most birds have a similar process of traveling thousands of miles in just a couple of days. But I haven't found the website yet that shows the migration path of a bunch of plain old robins. And if they did one for pigeons, it would just be from one McDonald's trash can to another.

But the particular bird being followed that I saw, was a bird named Harper. Harper began her journey in New Brunswick, and over the course of three days, flew from N.B. all the way to Florida. The first day she stopped for about 12 hours to rest, and then began a 38 hour mega-flight.

Photo: Blue Heron Observation Network of Maine
Photo: Blue Heron Observation Network of Maine
loading...

Put that in you own terms... Do you think you could do any physical activity for almost 2 days straight with no rest? Let alone the fact that it's flying. Granted, the wind can lend a hand as far as fatigue, but still flap your amrs for the better part of two days and let me know how you feel.

You can follow the path yourself, as well as 7 other birds the state has tagged, right here. There's detailed instructions about what to do, and what you'll see. It brings me almost as much joy as watching the live puffin cam from down east. Either way, you can't go wrong.

Watching Mother Nature do her work is always fascinating. Except when it's with the weather. No one likes that. It's bogus. So check out what sea birds do, and then sit back and wonder why you can't even find your car in the Hannaford parking lot.

More From WQCB Brewer Maine