Dusky Emperor, Chilean Blue Eagle, also known as a Grey Buzzard Eagle will be captivating audiences once again with her majestic flying displays and I for one can’t wait to see her flying. She is a large bird but in flight shows such grace and flight control which I have really got to enjoy.
After my first visit to The International Centre For Birds Of Prey in Newent I soon started to take pictures of her, all the time trying to capture how she flies, still of a mind that flight is a magical process anyway, even though we see it all around us.
You may wonder what those feathers are that point upwards at the end of the wings, well, I thought I would investigate a bit as they also seem to be sprouting up on passenger aircraft more recently, The technical term for these parts is 'Winglets' they are aerodynamic aids which essentially reduce drag spiralling around and off the back of wing tips called 'Vortices'
On aircraft they are fixed and do not change shape but change position by wing flex, they form an important percentage of overall wing dimension and came about in an attempt to reduce drag that the wing produces cutting through the air and more recently to improve fuel consumption.
Now for the clever stuff on birds; the winglets are made up of feathers that open, close and constantly change position altering the drag whilst flying which I think is pretty amazing especially as they take account of wind direction, speed of flight and flight pattern all at the same time .
Certainly seeing a bird like this close up really does offer us a rare chance to see these technical flight adjustments at work.
Nature really does have lots to teach us still it seems.
Nature really does have lots to teach us still it seems.
See this and more wonderful birds at The International Centre For Birds Of Prey in Newent.
Open from 1st February 2011
See link in my ‘Special Places To Visit’
