Eli5. Seagulls and other seabirds appear to defy physics when flying against the wind.

Question

I often see seagulls fly directly into a fierce wind, sometimes hardly flapping their wings. How is that even possible?

In: 0

Answer 1

Basically they are flying like a airplane does. Motion is relative it doesn’t matter if a wing is moving through the air or if the air is moving over the wing from our perspective. Birds flap their wings to move through the air faster and that generates lift but if the air is moving toward them they don’t need to flap to get the same effect.

This can also be observed with a kite. In a windy day you can just stand there and they work great. On a not so windy day you need to run with the kite to get it flying.