A unique bird migrating between the two coldest regions of the Earth was photographed near Vernadsky

The Arctic Tern is one of the most unique birds on Earth. It is the only bird in the world that migrates seasonally between the two coldest regions of our planet - the Arctic and Antarctic.

Two species of these birds can be found in the Antarctic. In general, the tern family is quite numerous, and they can be seen in Ukraine, for example, the river tern or the lesser tern, polar explorers from the Akademik Vernadsky Research Station noted on their Facebook page.

According to Ukrainian scientists, the Atlantic tern nests in the area of our Akademik Vernadsky station. It migrates relatively far: it can reach the south of Brazil and Australia at most, experts say.

The Arctic Tern is a unique bird, the researchers emphasize. "When it's summer in the Arctic (coinciding with Ukrainian summer) and there is a polar day in the Arctic Circle, this bird lives and nests there. But as soon as autumn comes in the Arctic, it flies to the shores of Antarctica to "spend the winter," the Vernadsky polar explorers wrote in a post.

The use of geolocators revealed that the Arctic Tern flies for about a month in one direction and along a trajectory that resembles the Latin letter S. "After all, it is forced to use the prevailing wind directions," the experts emphasize.

It is known that this bird can travel up to 96 thousand kilometers in one direction. In general, in their lifetime, polar terns can "wind" 2.4 million kilometers, scientists say.

It is thanks to the extraordinary endurance of these polar birds that Ukrainian polar explorer and now "combat penguin" Artem Ihnatenko chose the name tern for his night drone. "We wish the night tern of our defenders to fly as tirelessly and for as long as the Arctic tern," scientists from the Akademik Vernadsky station wished their colleague and defender of Ukraine in a post.

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