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What Is Bird Flight

Bird flight is enabled by various anatomical adaptations that allow birds to take off, fly, and land. Two key flight muscles - the pectoralis and supracoracoideus - power the up and down wing beats. Birds generate lift through complex, unsteady wing flapping motions. Other flight techniques include gliding with outstretched wings and hovering through high-energy flapping. Feather lightness, beak structure, and an enlarged sternum for muscle attachment aid a bird's ability to fly.

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Ananya Bhaduri
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244 views

What Is Bird Flight

Bird flight is enabled by various anatomical adaptations that allow birds to take off, fly, and land. Two key flight muscles - the pectoralis and supracoracoideus - power the up and down wing beats. Birds generate lift through complex, unsteady wing flapping motions. Other flight techniques include gliding with outstretched wings and hovering through high-energy flapping. Feather lightness, beak structure, and an enlarged sternum for muscle attachment aid a bird's ability to fly.

Uploaded by

Ananya Bhaduri
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Project Work Topic: Aerodynamics of Bird’s Flight

What is bird flight ?


Bird flight is the primary mode of locomotion used by most bird species in
which birds take off and fly. Flight assists birds with feeding, breeding,
avoiding predators, and migrating. Bird flight is one of the most complex
forms of movement in the animal kingdom.
Flying bird - birds having keeled breastbones for attachment
of flight muscles. bird - warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized
by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings. keel - the median ridge on the
breastbone of birds that fly. 

Which are the two most important muscles for flight?


Two pairs of large muscles move the wings in flight: the pectoralis, which
lowers the wing, and the supracoracoideus, which raises it.
Take-off and landing of a bird.
A successful takeoff typically involves leaping into the air and accelerating
to the desired flight speed. When landing, a bird must not slow down too
much too early, or it will fall from the air prematurely.

How do birds actually generate lift?


Birds generate lift and thrust by flapping the wings. This is a complex
unsteady motion of the wings, changing at every instant with the new
position of the wings.
Coordinated flight formation

(V-Formation, J-Formation, )

A wide variety of birds fly together in a symmetric V-shaped or a J-shaped


coordinated formation, also referred to as an "echelon", especially during
long distance flight or migration. It is often assumed that birds resort to this
pattern of formation flying in order to save energy and improve the
aerodynamic efficiency. The birds flying at the tips and at the front would
interchange positions in a timely cyclical fashion to spread flight tiredness
equally among the flock members.

How do birds change direction, glide, and hover?


Change direction:
The streamlined structure of the body of the birds
helps to change its direction while flying in the air easily. The bird controls
their wings to roll, side by side to make the one side of the wing lift than the
other side causing the bird to tilt towards its desired direction.
Glide:
When a bird is gliding, it doesn't have to do any work. The wings are held
out to the side of the body and do not flap. As the wings move through the
air, they are held at a slight angle, which deflects the air downwards and
causes a reaction in the opposite direction, which is lift. This is used majorly
for migration.

Hover:
True hovering occurs by generating lift through flapping alone, rather than
by passage through the air, requiring considerable energy expenditure. This
usually confines the ability to smaller birds, but some larger birds, such as a
kite or osprey can hover for a short period of time.

What are the adaptation in a bird’s body which help it to fly?


lightweight, smooth feathers – this reduces the forces of weight and drag.
a beak, instead of heavy, bony jaws and teeth – this reduces the force of
weight.
an enlarged breastbone called a sternum for flight muscle attachment – this
helps with the force of thrust.

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