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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 includes multiple types of motion, including hovering, taking off, and landing, involving many complex movements.
Birds are one of only four taxonomic groups to have evolved powered flight. A number of animals are capable of aerial locomotion, either by powered flight or by gliding. This trait has appeared by evolution many times, without any single common ancestor. Flight has evolved at least four times in separate animals: insects, pterosaurs, birds, and ...
Bird anatomy, or the physiological structure of birds' bodies, shows many unique adaptations, mostly aiding flight.Birds have a light skeletal system and light but powerful musculature which, along with circulatory and respiratory systems capable of very high metabolic rates and oxygen supply, permit the bird to fly.
Birds have various adaptations for flight, including a lightweight skeleton, two large flight muscles, the pectoralis (which accounts for 15% of the total mass of the bird) and the supracoracoideus, as well as a modified forelimb that serves as an aerofoil.
Some researchers have suggested that treating arboreal and cursorial hypotheses as mutually exclusive explanations of the origin of bird flight is incorrect. [25] Researchers in support of synthesizing cite studies that show incipient wings have adaptive advantages for a variety of functions, including arboreal parachuting, WAIR, and horizontal ...
Some examples of birds that have lost the ability to fly in favor of an aquatic lifestyle include: Penguins: one of the most highly adapted birds for swimming, penguins swim via lift produced by their wings and demonstrate a highly streamlined body shape that reduces drag. Flightless cormorant; Magellanic flightless steamer duck
Molting helps birds maintain optimal feather condition for flight and allows them to replace worn-out feathers and remove parasites, Prum said. Young birds might also look different than their ...
The term "hawking" comes from the similarity of this behavior to the way hawks take prey in flight, although, whereas raptors may catch prey with their feet, hawking is the behavior of catching insects in the bill. Many birds have a combined strategy of both hawking insects and gleaning them from foliage. Mainly founded in the grass lands and ...