is there a bird species that flies for 23 hours and sleeps whilst in flight?

Question

we are having a debat with a mate at work he says there is (he doesn't know what it is called)we all joke about it and think his crazy. lol.

Answer 1

Hummingbirds do sleep and they sleep at night and on a branch or other such place.
Please see link and a quote from the link:

http://www.naturalsciences.org/funstuff/faqs/hummers.html


"One way hummers survive extreme conditions is called torpor. Torpor is a kind of deep sleep, whereby an individual hummingbird lowers its metabolism by 95%, and thus body temperature (normally around 104°F/40°C), to just above the point of death by hypothermia!

Hummingbirds are among the smallest of all warm-blooded animals and lack the insulating downy feathers typical of many other bird species. Due to this and their small body size, hummingbirds rapidly lose body heat to their surroundings. Even sleeping hummingbirds have large energy demands that they must meet simply to survive. Going into nightly torpor conserves a lot of energy, allowing the bird to survive very cold and hot nights. Awakening from torpor takes 20 minutes or more, and happens automatically about an hour before dawn.

Folks have reported finding “dead” hummers hanging upside down, in the morning; but these usually turn out to be individuals in deep sleep (torpid), that have somehow loosened their foot grip just enough to slip on the perch, but not fall. They eventually wake up and begin the daily routines. Other species known to go into torpor include swifts and swallows."

I think the others have your answer, but it isn't the hummingbird.

Answer 2

Look up the Frigatebird. He is a little off on the time as they are known to remain aloft for at least a week before landing. This means they eat and likely sleep in the air. If you get an argument from anyone check Yahoo using 'FRIGATEBIRD' as the search term. One or more of the results should be form Wikipedia which has good short articles on them.

Answer 3

Hummingbirds fly constantly. They do "rest" while in flight and while eating.

Answer 4

There is, one of the Siberean geese.