Birds' ability to fly is extraordinary with swoops and dives, graceful soars and awkward tumbles, colors and effects on this world. This is something that humans can simulate, but not replicate. Birds flying is an amazing feat of engineering, even inspiring people to design contraptions that allow us to fly, glide, or hover. In the case of hummingbirds, they can fly in any direction, even at night and in the rain. Hummingbirds evolved to hover and have their beak shape match the flower. I find bird flight beautiful in form and function as it symbiotically connects to the natural world they live in.
Birds are important to the world’s ecosystems. Some stay in one ecosystem, others migrate, and still others, like the wandering albatross, almost never stay on land for extended amounts of time. Some birds, like hummingbirds, pollinate flowers, others spread seeds. Birds of prey soar and swoop, keeping the populations of small birds and rodents down. Various vultures use their huge wingspan to soar, which lets them conserve energy while looking for carrion. If they didn’t eat this carrion, there would be much more disease spread to soil, water and other animals.
Flight is necessary for almost all birds to do their jobs. Quail fly to escape all manner of predators. A fox can’t catch a quail that’s above the fox’s head, and a hawk will be confused by a group of quail suddenly taking off, no matter how clumsy quail flight may be. Merlins use birds getting scared and flying out of a tree to their advantage: they’ll swoop down on the frightened bird and catch it in the air. It wouldn't be able to do this if the prey bird was on the ground.
Air is important for birds to fly, glide, and smell. Wind spreads seeds like milkweed for bird nests, and it can spread scents of carnivorous bird’s prey and carrion. Hummingbirds don’t need wind to pollinate plants, but they need it for migration. Without the wind, they wouldn’t have the energy to get across vast waters. Peregrine falcons are the fastest birds in the world, but only when they stoop. (A stoop is a high altitude accelerated dive.)
Birds fly to better connect to nature. Humans saw that and tried to fly to harness nature for our own purposes. Many birds fly, and all use their flight or flightlessness to help better the world’s natural cycles. Birds will also use those abilities to survive this changing world. While birds can fly without wind, all birds rely on wind in one way or another. Studying birds and their flight has helped me realize how quickly this world is changing and how small feathers can have a big effect.
By Ima
Winter 2023
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