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How Do Birdsfly?

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How Do Birdsfly? ▼ oung Y naturalists Birds take to the sky and safely return to land or water in marvelously different ways. RED-TAILED HAWK BY BILL MARCHEL air air wing By Carrol HendersonHow Doand Michael Birds A. Kallok Fly? air ILLUSTRATION BY ILLUSTRATION STEVE ADAMS air For thousands of years, humans have watched with wonder air and envy as birds fly. People first tried to fly like birds by imitating the flapping of wings. In the late 1400s, Leonardo da Vinci created a wing- flapping contraption called an orni- When a bird or airplane is moving through the air, the air thopter (from the Greek word orni- splits its path at the front edge of the wing and meets again at thos for bird and pteron for wing). the back of the wing. Because the top of the wing is curved, He thought flying was simply a mat- the distance from the front of the wing to the back of the wing ter of flapping wings up and down. The ornithopter didn’t Discoveryis shorter of a for force air passing called under the lift wing. Air passing over the work because he did not understand how bird wings must wing top moves more quickly than air under the bottom. The generate lift and thrust to fly. fast-moving air atop the wing creates less pressure than air Today, airplanes with powerful engines can fly long underneath the wing. The higher air pressure under the wing distances. But human-made machines will probably lifts the bird upward. At the same time, wing flapping acts never match the natural power and grace of birds on the like a propeller to move, or thrust, the bird forward. Swiss wing. Birds have feathers and bones adapted for flight. mathematician Daniel Bernoulli first explained lift using an With these adaptations, they can take off, hover, soar, equation. This important discovery, known as Bernoulli’s glide, dive, and land in amazing ways. Principle, helped people learn how to achieve flight. 32 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer March–April 2012 33 COMMON LOON BY RICHARD HAMILTON SMITH top: Minnesota’s state bird, the common Leaping. A bank swallow drops from lards and teal. These birds rise from the run a long way across the surface of the loon, faces into the wind during takeoff its nesting cavity on the side of a cliff or ground or water with a powerful down- water while flapping its wings fast. to increase lift. On calm days, loons must steep bank. Gravity pulls on the swallow, ward thrust of their wings. run and flap longer distances to take off. helping it reach the critical speed at which Like airplanes accelerating down Hovering. Hummingbirds never run, bottom, left: Takingits spread wings off generate enough lift to a runway, many birds face the wind walk, or hop. They use their feet only Like a hang glider, the bank swallow become airborne. Herons, egrets, hawks, and run and flap their wings across a for perching. Minnesota’s ruby-throated leaps from high places and uses gravity to and other birds leap upward as they push stretch of land or water to gain enough hummingbird takes off from its perch by gain the speed necessary for lift. their wings downward to lift off. speed to lift off. To take off, sandhill lifting its feet and beating its wings to hov- cranes run into the wind across a field er up and away. Even if a hummingbird bottom, middle: Beating Wings. Many songbirds don’t or grassland. A common loon has small wants to move only two inches to the left The ring-necked pheasant, like native have very strong legs. Neither do grouse, wings compared with its body size and on its perch, it must let go, hover up and fowl such as ruffed grouse and prairie pheasants, and puddle ducks, such as mal- weight. To get airborne, a loon must to the left, then descend and perch again. chickens, has short, broad, cupped wings, which allow for explosive takeoffs and brief, fast flights. bottom, right: Long, slender, oarlike wings allow the ruby-throated hummingbird to hover, fly backwards, and even fly upside down. RING-NECKED PHEASANT BY BILL MARCHEL RING-NECKED PHEASANT BANK SWALLOW BY CARROL HENDERSON, DNR SWALLOW BANK RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD BY CARROL HENDERSON, DNR RUBY-THROATED 35 Birds make flying look easy. They seem to simply flap their wings and fly. Certain adaptations make birds perfectly suited to fly in certain ways and places. They have specialized feathers and use Flight gear50 different muscles that allow complicated movements. Wing Bones and Feathers alula thumblike TERN BY CARROL HENDERSON, DNR COMMON feathered part Tail. When a bird raises its tail, the tail helps the bird climb high- er in the sky. To dive, a bird points its tail toward the ground. The tail helps the bird slow down or stop flying and turn right or left. When a hummingbird approaches a flower, it low- ers and spreads its tail feathers, so more air drags against the tail. Thisdrag (wind resistance) helps the bird slow down and hover or stop. A common tern spreads its forked tail to slow its forward movement and stay stable while hovering on the wind as it looks for a fish below. A tern can also fold its tail straight back, so it is more streamlined and creates less drag during its long migratory flights between North and South America. primaries nine to 12 long, stiff feathers that overlap on the downstroke to secondaries generate forward thrust and then feathers that stay horizontal when twist in their sockets and open like flapping, creating lift a venetian blind to allow air to slip through on the upstroke (to mini- mize wind resistance) AIRPLANE ILLUSTRATION BY STEVE ADAMS STEVE BY AIRPLANE ILLUSTRATION Climb: Elevator up ulna bone meta-carpal bones like the two bones that like your index and middle Dive: radius bone make up your forearm fingers, but stuck together Elevator down humerus bone like the bone from your shoulder to your elbow 36 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer 37 LEFT: TURKEY VULTURE BY CARROL HENDERSON, DNR; RIGHT: YOUNG BALD EAGLE BY BILL MARCHEL first successful airplane, they studied soaring turkey vultures. Many airplanes have wings with a gentle upward angle to provide stable flight. Pelicans, hawks, ospreys, and geese have long, broad wings too. Like turkey 1 vultures, these birds fly with their pri- A turkey vulture can’t match the acrobatic mary feathers spread out like fingers on flight of a barn swallow. Of course, a little an open hand. These fingerlike wingtips barn swallow can’t soar for miles with- give birds extra lift because each primary out flapping like a big turkey vulture can. feather generates its own lift. Long pri - 2 FlightWhy do different styles birds fly the way they maries also give a bird plenty of thrust in do? There is certainly a difference in the forward flight and in diving for prey. size of birds, but how birds fly depends mostly on the shapes of their wings. Skydiving. Some birds, such as swallows and falcons, have long, angular wings with This photo shows several postures of a Soaring and Gliding. Using its long, pointed tips. Pointed wingtips have less 3 peregrine falcon diving for prey. As the fal- broad wings, a turkey vulture can soar for drag and allow a bird to perform dramatic con’s wings are drawn in and folded back, hours in search of carrion, dead animals. aerial maneuvers in order to catch bugs the drag decreases and the bird’s airspeed A turkey vulture holds its wings at an up- or other prey on the wing. With its long, can reach almost 200 miles per hour. ward angle, like a shallow letter V. This sleek, angular wings, a peregrine falcon 4 shape helps the bird stay stable in the air. can reach speeds of nearly 200 miles per If the wind tilts a vulture to one side, lift hour as it dives toward other birds in flight. increases under the lower wing because it is extended horizontally a longer distance Short and Fast. Birds such as pheas- slender wings like the oars of a rowboat— 5 than the other wing. The lift brings the ants, turkey, and grouse have short, broad but much faster. A ruby-throated hum- bird back to a horizontal position. When wings that allow them to fly very fast over mingbird can make more than 50 wing- the Wright brothers were designing their short distances. The wings are shaped like beats a second! A hummingbird cannot an upside-down saucer. This curved de- glide or soar, but it can flip its wings up- 1 Turkey vulture (Long and broad wing for soaring) sign traps more air underneath the wings side down at the shoulder joint to gen- 2 Common nighthawk (Long, angular, and pointed wing for high speed) for a quick lift and noisy getaway from a erate lift on both the forward and the fox, coyote, bobcat, or other predator. backward strokes. By changing wing po- 3 Greater prairie chicken (short, broad, and cupped wing for quick takeoffs) sition, a hummingbird can fly up, down, 4 Indigo bunting (short and broad wing for quick takeoffs and flying long distances) Up, Down, Around. Rather than flap- forward, backward, and upside down. It 5 Hummingbird (long, slender, and straight oarlike wing for maneuverability) ping, a hummingbird moves its straight, is the only bird able to fly backward. 38 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer March–April 2012 39 Landing is tricky—for birds (and airplane pilots).
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