How do birds fly? How high do birds fly? Can birds fly backwards and how fast can they get? Answers to these questions and much more information about bird flight can be found below.
What man has dreamed of for a long time and only succeeded in doing after decades of research and experimentation is something that birds are born with in their cradle - or in their nest: Flying is an ability that birds only have very few other animals share. Just a few weeks after hatching, young birds make their first attempts to fly and from then on spend a large part of their lives in the air. Some species, such as the common swift, are so well developed that they almost never land and not only hunt and eat during the flight, but even sleep. You can find out exactly why birds can fly, what differences there are between the types of flight and what heights and speeds the animals reach in the process in our large information article.
Why can birds fly?
Birds use several physical laws to fly. Your entire body is attuned to life in the air. In addition to their streamlined shape, birds have strong pectoral muscles that enable wing movement and partially air-filled bones that reduce their overall weight as much as possible. Of course, the most important thing is the wings themselves. These are built in such a way that if the speed is sufficient, the air flowing past them is compressed on the upper side and thus flows faster than on the underside. As a result, a negative pressure is created on the wing surface and thus a suction that gives the birds the lift they need.
Flight Types of Birds
By using different air currents and targeted wing movements, birds can practice different types of flight:
- When gliding, birds spread their wings and let themselves be carried by warm updrafts, also known as thermals. Such thermals arise when sunlight warms the earth's surface and the warm airrising.
- In gliding the wings are also spread, but no updraft is used. Instead, the birds slowly glide down to the ground from a great height.
- The rudder flight describes classic flying with the help of powerful wing beats. With no thermals, this is the only way for birds to soar high or fly steadily straight without descending.
- The climbing flight is a modification of the rudder flight, in which the wing tips describe a lying figure of eight at high speed, whereby the birds generate a constant updraft like a helicopter and thus both in pleasure stand and fly backwards. Hummingbirds, for example, use this type of flight.
Through the use of different types of flight, species-specific flight pictures sometimes emerge, which can be used to identify some bird species even from a great distance. A classic example of this is the wave flight of the woodpecker, which is caused by the birds alternatingly rising with strong wing beats and then falling again with folded wings.
Interesting facts about bird flight
With their impressive flying skills, birds regularly set exciting records. The sparrow vulture, for example, was measured as the highest flyer, which has been proven to reach heights of 11,000 meters. Arctic terns, on the other hand, are the ultimate long-distance migrants. One tagged individual set a record of 60,000 miles (96,000 km) covered in just ten months. And the title of the fastest bird in the world goes to the peregrine falcon, which can dive at speeds of over 300 km/h.
Tip: You are also interested in the questions: Can birds smell, hear & see colors? We'll give you the answers in our special article.
To achieve the speed needed to fly, birds must provide large amounts of energy, which they must then recover from food. If you would like to support your garden birds in covering their daily energy needs, you can offer our Plantura fat balls, for example. The species-appropriate food dumplings consist of natural insect fat, valuable seeds, nuts and berries and thus provide plenty of energy for a large number ofnative wild birds.
You can find out more information on the subject of "feeding birds correctly", which food is suitable for which season and what constitutes species-appropriate bird feeding in our special article.