How do birds fly in a seemingly straight line instead of up and down when they flap their wings?
In: Other
They make adjustments on the fly (pun intended) it’s kinda the same we do while diving, they aren’t just pushing air downwards, while they are taking of that are a lot more unstable but once they gain altitude they focus on moving forward
First of all, birds are totally not real.
Anyway
If you watch a larger bird take off, you’ll see it move up and down a bit with each flap, until it gets up to flying speed. But once a bird is moving forward through the air at its normal flying speed, it flaps in order to keep moving forward. It actually changes the angle of its wings so that the flapping motion moves it forward instead of up/down. Its forward motion takes care of keeping it airborne, so it doesn’t have to push hard downwards with each flap (which is the motion that causes to up/down bobble you see when it takes off).
Woodpeckers display the undulating flight you’re describing. They alternate a burst of wing flaps that makes them rise, followed by a gentle bound downward with their wings tucked in close to their bodies.
For lack of a better way to put it, their shoulder joints rotate as their wings flap – while it’s imperceptible in real-time, they’re not necessarily getting a full “loft” from a downflap, as the shoulder rotates to reduce force on the wings.
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