Action Analysis: Flight Dynamics (Primary Research)

When I got the assignment of analysing flight dynamics, I realised how lucky I was to live close to Bristol's habourside: it's full of seagulls, pigeons and crows, presenting the opportunity to not only study flight from life, but to compare different species' flight patterns. Doing so was a very interesting insight into how different, yet similar, bird species can be, even within the same geographic location.

I also visited Noah's Ark Zoo Farm and saw their Birds of Prey Display, which was perfect for studying flight: the birds flew right in front of my face, the keepers explained the differences in their flight patterns, and the audience are allowed to stroke Bella the barn owl after the performance. You wouldn't believe how soft a barn owl's feathers actually are (this contributes to their silent flight).

Finally, I went to Slimbridge Wetlands Centre to observe a variety of water fowl. I didn't get as many drawings of them in flight as I would've liked, since they spent most of their time in the water, but I did get some useful videos of swans and ducks flapping their wings - and their otter exhibit came in handy for the quadruped locomotion part of the assignment.

Click Read More to see my observational sketches (with a few dog sketches mixed in) and video recordings.

I find it interesting how pigeons have a kind of hivemind (observe how they all scatter at once), while seagulls and crows are more independent. It makes sense since the latter two are birds of prey, while pigeons are prey and therefore find strength in numbers.

Pigeons are extremely used to living among humans, and this shows when they fly in crowded places: one particular pigeon at the 0:02 mark of this video flies past a human passer-by very deftly.

Seagulls are known for their gliding ability, and of all the videos I took of them, this one shows that off best. I also find the way it folds its wings up at the end interesting: long wings make a bird graceful in the air, but landing, they're slightly less so.

As I wrote in my notes, seagulls are capable of much sharper turns than pigeons or crows.

As his handler notes in this video, this particular Harris Hawk lost part of his wing, so his flight is ever so slightly lopsided.

I did secondary research on barn owls in quite a bit of detail, but it still helped to see one up close and fully appreciate how graceful and silent they are.

This falcon (not a hawk as I mistakenly wrote in the video title) has an almost seagull-like gliding flight pattern, because her hunting style means she's not looking to land. It's also interesting to observe her ruffling her feathers at the beginning of the video.

As one of the heaviest flying birds, swans have a wingspan that's impressive to observe even when they're not in flight. It takes this swan until the 0:14 mark to open its wings, but I was still lucky to capture that on video: the vigorous movements required to support its weight in flight are evident.