A few years ago we did hear about a White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) called Little Princess (Prinzesschen).
Storks were fitted with a kind of cybertracking system and so everyone was able to observe the Flyway of the White Stork on the internet.

We already discovered this project a few years ago and Little Princess was I think one of the most famous White Storks in Germany. We even talked about her at work and sometimes checked where she had been in the meantime.

She was wearing the transmitter since 1994 and was therefore a kind of a pioneer of the Flyway of the Stork telemetry here in Germany.
Now after years of development the transmitter is only 35 grams of weight and not larger then a matchbox.
She carried the transmitter like a little backpack on her back , the signals were send to a Satellite and after that all data was send to Germany.
½ hour (minimum) after the Signal was send the Scientists were able to tell where Little Princess was a that moment.

Despite most of her conspecifics she did not hibernate in Spain but flew all the way to South Africa.

So year after year she flew more than 10.000 kilometres, seldom migratory birds fly longer ways.
She did not only break the record for the longest flight, but also the speed record, as she flew sometimes up to 80 kmph.

Because of her long journeys every year she had some trouble with her husbands. Her husband of long years, Jonas, always hibernated in Spain. So he was back home much earlier (most of the times in March) than Little Princess (April the earliest).
So sometimes her nest was already occupied by another Stork-Lady called Novi, but Little Princess ( after fierce battles) nearly always scrambled a victory.

There is even a stamp that shows Little Princess:

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