The Unfeathered Bird

The skeletal structure of a hummingbird’s wing is similar to that of a swift—a short, stout, and queerly shaped upper arm, a short forearm, and a long and much enlarged hand section. Hummingbirds, however, move their wings in an entirely different way. Their wingtips describe a figure-eight shape in the air, generating lift on the backward as well as forward strokes rather like a helicopter, whereas most birds power themselves with the downward beat of their wings, using the upstroke merely as a recovery motion. Pictured at right: A white-throated hummingbird.

Not all ducks dive. Some—like the Mallard, above—feed at the water’s surface and, like swans, frequently “up-end” to reach food items in the shallows. The better the swimmer, the worse on land and in the air. So diving ducks, whose legs are shorter, farther back, and farther apart then those of surface-feeding ducks, need a pattering run across the surface in order to take off. Surface-feeding ducks, meanwhile, can spring vertically into the air with a minimum of effort and are agile and maneuverable in flight. Ducks have small wings compared to their heavy bodies, so gliding and soaring are out of the question. However, their long, broad, and relatively deeply keeled breastbone can accommodate large flight muscles, and with rapid, direct wingbeats they prove themselves powerful fliers.

Part of penguins’ appeal is our inclination to sympathize with them,. We see them as mini-humans, unable to fly and making the best of a cold climate, instead of as the highly specialized seabirds they are. Flying and swimming have conflicting demands. Flying requires lightness and a large wing area, whereas the optimal conditions for swimming are increased body weight and, for wing-propelled birds, a small wing area. In an environment free from terrestrial predators there is little selective advantage in retaining the powers of flight. It takes little more effort to propel a large streamlined body underwater than a small one, so body size was able to develop independently of wing size, leaving penguins with wings often disproportionately small. Meanwhile, wing area was able to decrease. The long primary and secondary feathers necessary for flight play no part in underwater locomotion and merely hamper a bird’s progress. Penguins have neither, leaving them with a wing area that is small and narrow—ideal for swimming. Pictured at right: A baby penguin.

The group of birds loosely referred to as gamebirds is essentially the whole order Galliformes—the pheasants, grouse, guineafowl, and related birds, including the Red Junglefowl, above. Their large breast muscles make them incapable of sustaining flight for long periods; the birds quickly tire and need to rely on protracted glides on downcurved wings to carry them any distance.

The sandgrouse’s skeleton is dominated by the large, triangular keel to the breastbone, resembling the sail of a yacht. Although its proportions are accentuated by the birds’ small head and diminutive tarsi and toes, this bone, whose function it is to support the substantial bulk of flight muscles, is the key to sandgrouse success. Strong, fast, and direct flight, sustainable over considerable distances, enables sandgrouse to commute. They can live “out of town,” in arid regions, where the seeds that form their diet are plentiful, free from the competition and risk of predation associated with water-rich areas, by simply making daily trips to waterholes to drink. Each species has its own particular time slot at the water hole. During these flights, sometimes exceeding a hundred miles in a round-trip, they call noisily to one another, attracting birds to join them to gain safety in numbers. Sandgrouse have even been known to out-fly hunting falcons. Pictured at right: Pallas's Sandgrouse.