AMES, Iowa, Feb. 23 -- Iowa State University issued the following news release: * * * Pit stops in Iowa precede nonstop flights to South America, bird-tracking study shows AMES, Iowa - Nonstop flights direct from Iowa to Venezuela are rare, unless you happen to be a well-fed pectoral sandpiper. Pectoral sandpipers are the most common long-distance migratory shorebirds seen in Iowa, which is a convenient stopping point between their Arctic breeding grounds and their winter home in South Ameri  more