A new website dedicated to the Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea), containing a wealth of background information, maps and photos on the species, has recently been launched.

The main goal of the website is to present the research results of an international study conducted in 2009 which successfully mapped the impressive migratory movements of the Arctic tern, using geolocators - tiny tracking devices mounted on the back of the birds.

The research has confirmed that the Arctic tern has by far the longest regular migration of any know animal in the world. It migrates from the most northern parts of the AEWA Agreement Area in Greenland to the most southern part and further on to the Weddell Sea, an average of around 71,000 km roundtrip each year!

The study was carried out by a team from Greenland, Denmark, the United States, Great Britain and Iceland and results were first published in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in January 2010.

For more information, please visit:

• The Arctic tern Website: www.arctictern.info