I understand that birds flap their wings to ascend. That makes sense. But how do birds go forward? How do they travel the x axis?
In: Biology
When they flap their wings they push **down and back**, not straight down. Also they **glide** the same as a plane does, or a plane glides the same as a bird does, so that they trade off a little altitude to maintain forward speed. Lastly hot air rises and causes **thermals** which are cylinders of hot rising air. Birds can glide in a circle inside a thermal and be lifted up by the rising hot air.
Birds control directional flight by adjusting the angle of their wings and the shape of their wings. A small dip or rise of the trailing end of a wing dramatically changes flight direction.
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