Whether they’re opening for takeoff, spreading wide for a lazy soar or flapping to brake for landing, bird wings make flying ...

An air-filled sac within the birds' lungs is believed to increase the force the birds use to power flight muscles while soaring. Soaring birds -- like osprey, eagles, falcons, even vultures -- can ...

Modern birds capable of flight all have a specialized wing structure called the propatagium without which they could not fly. The evolutionary origin of this structure has remained a mystery, but new ...

“Awkward” would probably be the most benevolent word I could use to describe the explosive launch into flight of the California quail. Certainly, the words graceful or athletic do not come to mind. A ...

Geographic and phylogenetic sampling of avian wing-bone morphology. Using measurements from 7366 skeletal specimens, we analyze variation in wing-bone length across 1520 bird species, representing ...

A bird banking in a crosswind doesn't rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment. Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building ...

Most airplanes in the world have vertical tails or rudders to prevent Dutch roll instabilities, a combination of yawing and sideways motions with rolling that looks a bit like the movements of a ...