And the award goes to a gutsy, young bar-tailed godwit that dared to fly non-stop for eleven days from Alaska to Australia, a daring 8,435 miles, says the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC]. How does the Guinness World Records know that the bird didn’t land for a rest en route? Eric Woehler of Birdlife Tasmania explains that other species of birds might land on the water to rest and feed but not a godwit. If it lands on water, “it’s dead. It doesn’t have the webbing in its feet, it has no way of getting off. So if it falls onto the ocean’s surface from exhaustion, or if bad weather forces it to land, that’s the end.” The previous record for such a flight was held by another godwit that flew 8,218, according to the record keepers at Guinness.