It weighs just half an ounce and its natural home is a tree . But tiny songbird the blackpoll warbler routinely undertakes non-stop flights of up to 1,700 miles across open ocean , scientists have confirmed . The heroic journeys are 'on the brink of impossibility ' , according to one of the researchers who attached tracking devices to 40 birds . Long journey : The blackpoll warbler routinely undertakes flights of up to 1,700 miles , flying without stopping to rest , eat or drink across the Atlantic . Experts had long wondered about tantalising clues that suggested the warbler was capable of epic migrations between North and South America . Now they have proof that it really does fly without stopping to rest , eat or drink across the Atlantic . Unlike other migratory songbirds travelling south for the winter , the warbler ignores the safe option of hugging the coastline through Mexico and Central America . Instead it risks death by flying hundreds of miles from land even though it can not land on water and live . Nice flight : A blackpoll warbler wearing a miniature tracking device . US scientists were astonished when they analysed data from some of the birds they tracked from New England and Canada to the Caribbean , Venezuela and Colombia . Dr Bill DeLuca , from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst , said : 'It was pretty thrilling to get the return birds back , because their migratory feat in itself is on the brink of impossibility . 'When we accessed the locators , we saw the blackpolls ' journey was indeed directly over the Atlantic . The distances travelled ranged from 1,410 to 1,721 miles . ' He added : 'For small songbirds , we are only just now beginning to understand the migratory routes that connect temperate breeding grounds to tropical wintering areas . 'We 're really excited to report that this is one of the longest non-stop over-water flights ever recorded for a songbird , and finally confirms what has long been believed to be one of the most extraordinary migratory feats on the planet . ' For the study , published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters , the scientists captured 20 birds in Vermont and another 20 in Nova Scotia and fitted them with geolocator packs . The devices , each about the size of a 5p piece , were attached using leg harnesses , much like a rucksack . Too small to house GPS receivers , they operated by means of 'solar geolocation ' - a method used for centuries by mariners and explorers . It is based on the fact that day length varies with latitude and the time of solar noon - when the sun is at its highest point in the sky - varies with longitude .
Blackpoll warbler undertakes non-stop flights of up to 1,700 miles . Flies without stopping to rest , eat or drink across the Atlantic . Venezuela scientists tracked birds from New England to the Caribbean .