H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

The fact that birds can fly is amazing enough for my neophyte birder mind. But when observing closely when they fly, those skills are beyond our comprehension of physical abilities. Seeing a bird flying at an accelerated rate of speed and cut that fly to a dead stop and stand on a branch or a twig. It blows my mind!

C. Chickadee flying from feeder to bird house

I see it happen everyday in my backyard! Such as when a Carolina Chickadee flies from his nest in a bird house (with a circular opening that is hardly big enough to accommodate the passage of his body) to the feeder then pick a sunflower seed and at a tremendous speed head back to the bird house… (at this moment is when it comes my amazement)

The bird never hesitates or stops to aim for the hole, he just shoots directly into the house like a bullet! No slowing down! The inside of the bird house is approximately 4 inches deep.

Here is what’s in play:

• – High speed flying.
• – Stopping in a short confined space.
• – Principals of Inertia- velocity, momentum factors of motion
• – Calculations of speed-distance-direction and drag.
• – All these factors calculated in fractions of a second as we say on the fly (No pun)

I figure that birds, since they are descendant of the dinosaurs (as we know to be some of the oldest species that inhabited the Earth) have evolved not so much on intellect but on superior  motor-reflexes and have developed superb flying techniques.

If you ask me,birds are indeed amazing creatures!