Conquerors of the air
Speed, range, flight altitude of birds
Regarding the flight speed of birds, researchers have different opinions. It is greatly influenced by atmospheric phenomena, so when moving long distances, birds either fly faster, sometimes slower, or take long breaks to rest.
Having released a bird in some place, it is very difficult to say when it will fly to its “destination”, because it may not fly for the entire duration of its absence. Speed calculated by simply dividing the distance by the bird's flight time is often an underestimate. At especially “critical” moments - when chasing prey or escaping from danger - birds can develop very high speeds, but, of course, they cannot withstand them for long. Large falcons during bets - chasing birds in the air - reach speeds of 280-360 km/h. The usual, “everyday” speeds of average birds are much less - 50-90 km/h.
Everything said above concerns flapping flight. The speed of gliding flight is also difficult to measure. It is believed that the hobby glides at a speed of 150 km/h, the bearded vulture - 140, and the vulture - even 250 km/h.
The range of non-stop flights of birds has been discussed for a long time. Like speed, it is very difficult to measure. The falcon, released near Paris, was discovered a day later on the island of Malta, 1,400 km away. Whether he was delayed on the way or was flying all the time is unknown. In general, birds stop along the way quite often, and their non-stop flights are short. This cannot be said about flying over water barriers, where birds have nowhere to sit. The record for non-stop flight distance belongs to waders - brown-winged plovers, which annually fly 3000 km over the ocean from Alaska to Hawaii and back. Birds fly non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico (1300 km), the Mediterranean Sea (600-750 km), the North Sea (600 km), and the Black Sea (300 km). This means that the average non-stop flight distance of birds is about 1000 km.
As a rule, the flight altitude of birds does not reach 1000 m. But some large predators, geese, ducks, can rise to much higher heights. In September 1973, an African vulture collided with a civilian aircraft at an altitude of 12,150 m above the Ivory Coast. Grif disabled one of the engines, but the plane landed safely. This is apparently an absolute record for bird flight altitude. Previously, a bearded vulture was recorded in the Himalayas at an altitude of 7900 m, migrating geese were recorded there at an altitude of 9500 m, and a mallard collided with a plane over Nevada at an altitude of 6900 m.
Since childhood, we have been interested in one simple riddle: who is really the fastest of birds? These amazing creatures have such a reserve of strength that many would envy them. The result of research on a similar topic may surprise many.
The fastest bird in the world
The first place in such a list of the fastest birds is taken by the peregrine falcon. It is this inconspicuous bird that can move at a speed of approximately 389 kilometers per hour, which (for comparison) significantly exceeds the speed of free fall of parachutists.
It is this fastest bird in the world that can give a head start to many animals, while the peregrine falcon can be found on absolutely all continents, except perhaps Antarctica. Its main feature is that it can develop such enormous speed only by diving from a height.
Peregrine falcon dimensions
In appearance, this fastest bird in the world is no larger than a crow, moreover, it has gray plumage, which becomes light gray on the abdomen, and the head is always black.
The peregrine falcon survives thanks to a unique hunting technique, which consists of diving from a height onto its prey and knocking it down with a blow of its tucked paws. The speed with which the peregrine falcon does this could easily result in it knocking off the poor prey's head.
Second fastest
In fact, the bird that will be discussed further can easily take first place in this unique speed rating.
The main reason for this is that the peregrine falcon develops enormous speed when it “falls” from the sky, but the swift’s flight speed is enormous in the horizontal plane.
It can reach speeds of more than 170 kilometers per hour. You can meet such a miracle only in Northern or Central Asia, as well as in Central Europe. The bird spends its wintering in Africa or India. Nowadays its natural habitat is cities, and much less often it concerns forests.
Appearance of a swift
The swift is even smaller in size than the peregrine falcon, weighing only 50-150 grams.
The black swift is the fastest. It has dark brown plumage with a barely noticeable metallic tint. It can easily be confused with a swallow, because these bird species are quite similar, especially when viewed from above.
Features of the bird
The peculiarity of the swift is that literally a few centuries ago it could be eaten, arguing that the meat was quite tasty.
If we do not take into account this gastronomic feature, there is another curious fact: the swift spends almost all of its time in the air. In the most literal sense of the word. Flying out of the nest eight weeks after birth, it lands only after approximately 3 years. Given that its legs are very short and its toes point only forward, it is quite difficult to take off from the ground on its own, but it is possible. All you need is a few very strong flaps of your wings and at least a slight elevation to make it easier to take off. The wings themselves are disproportionately large, if you still compare them with the size of the body itself.
Long, curved wings and a perfectly streamlined body, a flat head, as well as a short neck - all these aerodynamic features allow the swift to even sleep in the air. Being at an altitude of up to 3 thousand meters in a flock, it simply flies in a circle and falls asleep, while waking up every 5 seconds in order to once again flap its wings and not fall.
This fastest bird on earth can fly approximately 500 thousand kilometers in its entire life, landing only a few times in its life just to breed.
Swallow and swift: differences
It was previously said that a swift can be very similar to a swallow in its appearance. But still, their most important difference is their flight speed - the swift reaches a speed of about 170 kilometers per hour, and the swallow only 60 kilometers per hour. But nevertheless, a swift cannot be better in flight maneuverability than a swallow. A bird of this species also differs from the swift in the structure of its legs - the swift has four toes turned forward, while swallows have three toes turned forward and one toe turned back. That is why they can sit on telegraph wires and easily stay there, but this is definitely not possible for a swift.
Swifts have a dark belly, while swallows have a white belly. Moreover, in flight, the first type of bird is distinguished by its excessive noisiness and never folds its wings. In addition, the swift is larger in size than the swallow.
Bird flight speed
The third fastest in this ranking is the grey-headed albatross. It is larger in size than its predecessors, having a wingspan of 3.5 meters. Due to the fact that the albatross cannot make such a rapid dive or live constantly in the air, it is distinguished by its endurance.
It is he who can fly at a speed of 130 kilometers per hour for eight hours. Although he is not the fastest bird in the world, he is in the Guinness Book of Records due to his amazing features.
The eider is a bird from the duck family that can reach speeds of approximately one hundred kilometers per hour. At the same time, it can withstand long flights, although it does not rise high into the sky, because its main food is in the water - mollusks, worms, small fish. That is why the eider is not only a fast bird, but also an excellent diver.
Next in the ranking of the fastest birds in the world is the homing pigeon. This species has proven itself well in various conditions - both in peacetime and during military operations. That is why the pigeon must be given due respect.
Its flight speed ranges from 90 to 100 kilometers per hour. Pigeons are much more resilient than albatrosses - some individuals can stay in the air for more than 16 hours.
The starling is an inconspicuous bird with a pleasant singing voice; it has also proven itself to be an excellent flyer. Starlings can reach speeds of approximately 70 kilometers per hour, and they are found on every continent on our planet.
The fieldfare thrush can also reach a speed of 70 kilometers per hour. It is distributed throughout Europe and Asia, and its voice and unusual plumage always attract quite a lot of attention.
The fastest bird
The fastest bird in the world, not counting the extinct pterodactyls, is the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus). In short areas during hunting, it is capable of reaching speeds of up to 200 km/h. The vast majority of birds are not able to move faster than 90 km/h. This does not mean that they are not capable of other records. For example, the black swift (Apus apus) can stay in the air for 2-4 years. During all this time, he sleeps, drinks, eats and even mates on the fly. A young swift that takes wing flies about 500,000 km before landing for the first time.
The black swift has a number of records from the world of birds. The bird can stay in the air non-stop for 2-4 years, all this time it eats, drinks and mates, during which time it can fly 500,000 km. The black and needle-tailed swifts have the highest horizontal flight speed, reaching 120-180 km/h. The flight of the needle-tailed swift is so swift that, in addition to a quiet cry, the observer can also hear a peculiar humming - this is the sound of the bird cutting the air. In some parts of its flight, the needle-tailed swift can reach speeds of up to 300 km/h.
The woodcock is considered the slowest flying bird. During mating games, this small brown bird, referred to in Dahl’s dictionary as a “krechtun,” is capable of staying in the air at a speed of 8 km/h.
The African ostrich is not capable of flight at all, but it runs in such a way that many flyers would envy. In case of danger, it can accelerate to 72 km/h.
A bird capable of not only making long flights, but doing it incredibly quickly, was discovered by Swedish ornithologists. In their opinion, such endurance can only be compared with that of an airplane. Maintaining a speed close to 100 km/h for more than 6,500 kilometers is no joke.
In May, biologists from Lund University attached special geolocators weighing only 1.1 grams to the backs of 10 male snipes (Gallinago media). A year later, they caught three of them and extracted the collected data. It turned out that the birds travel from Sweden to Central Africa and back.
One of the individuals flew 6,800 kilometers in three and a half days, the second 6,170 kilometers in three days, and finally, the last one flew 4,620 kilometers in two days. At the same time, the wind did not help the birds. Biologists analyzed data from satellites and found that there were no favorable winds along the great snipe’s flight path.
It is surprising that great snipes do not stop on their way, because their flight mostly lies over land. Typically, land birds sit down to rest and replenish their energy reserves (there are plenty of earthworms, insects and other invertebrates on the surface).
A bird can fly if its body weight is no more than 20 kg. Some birds scatter before flying, such as bustards and chickens.
For example, in India, when determining the flight speed of a swift, it turned out to be one hundred and seventy miles per hour, in Mesopotamia - one hundred miles per hour. The flight speed of the European falcon was measured with a stopwatch at the moment of its dive, and the result was from one hundred sixty-five to one hundred eighty miles per hour.
But most scientists question these figures. One expert believes the homing pigeon holds the bird record, and it cannot reach speeds over 94.2 mph.
Here are some generally accepted figures regarding the flight speed of birds. The falcon can fly at speeds of sixty-five to seventy-five miles per hour. Slightly inferior to it in speed are ducks and geese, which can reach speeds of sixty-five to seventy miles per hour.
The flight speed of the European swift reaches sixty to sixty-five miles per hour, approximately the same as that of the golden plover and mourning dove. Hummingbirds, which are considered very fast birds, reach speeds of up to fifty-five to sixty miles per hour. The starling's flight speed is forty-five to fifty miles per hour. Sparrows usually fly at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour, although they can fly faster: forty-five to fifty miles per hour.
Crows usually fly at speeds of twenty to thirty miles per hour, although they can reach forty to fifty miles per hour. The flight speed of a heron is thirty-five to forty miles per hour, and that of a pheasant is thirty-five to forty miles per hour. And, oddly enough, a wild turkey can do thirty to thirty-five miles an hour. The speed of a pigeon jay is twenty to thirty-five miles per hour.
Running competitions are of great interest, and horse racing has long been considered a very spectacular event. But in both cases it is quite easy to determine the speed of movement of both runners and horses. After all, there are start and finish lines for this, and various precision instruments come to the rescue. But how, one might ask, can one measure the speed of a bird flying in the sky?
For example, it is believed that swifts living in India reach speeds of up to 272 kilometers per hour, while their relatives from Mesopotamia are not so agile and fly only at a speed of only 160 kilometers per hour. Using a stopwatch, it was possible to determine the falcon's flight speed: 264-288 kilometers per hour. But how accurate these figures are is unknown. Many
scientists claim that birds cannot reach such speeds at all and that while there are more or more less precise valuable information about the speed and flight of pigeons alone. Chum salmon! and their highest speed reaches up to 11 kilometers per hour.
Let's list some generally accepted figures. Thus, falcons, ducks and geese, according to verified data, fly at a speed of 104-120 kilometers per hour.
Swifts living in Europe fly at a speed of 95-104, hummingbirds - 90-96 kilometers per hour. The flight speed of starlings is 70-80, swallows - 40 kilometers per hour. But, according to some data, swallows can reach speeds of up to 75-80 kilometers per hour. The same can be said about crows, average speed whose flight is 40-48 kilometers per hour, but if necessary, these birds can increase their speed to 60-70 kilometers per hour. Herons and pheasants reach speeds of up to 55-65, jays - 40-48 kilometers per hour. And what’s most surprising is that the clumsy turkeys, it turns out, are simply record holders. After all, they fly at a speed of 50-56 kilometers per hour.
Not only creatures living on land try to demonstrate their speed qualities, but also those who are able to rise high into the sky. After all, there, just like on earth, there is a constant struggle for life. And here, as they say, you have to try very hard to emerge victorious from this struggle.
The speed of animals living on land depends entirely on the structure of the skeleton and the strength of the limbs. The speed of birds that soar high in the sky depends slightly on other important factors. Here the speed depends not only on the structure of the skeleton and the strength of the wings, but also on the special ability to use all this. Our conversation will focus on the fastest birds.
1st place. Peregrine falcon
Peregrine falcon (lat. Falco peregrinus) - this bird of prey the size of an ordinary hooded crow, but this does not prevent it from being the fastest among all birds. The falcon hunts in the air: before attacking its prey, the falcon rises high up, gaining the required height, and only then falls down “like a stone.” In such a fall, the predator develops a speed of up to 100 m/second, which is equal to 350 km/h.
2nd place. Black swift
Black swift (lat. Apus apus) is the main rival of the peregrine falcon in high-speed flight, as well as one of its victims. However, the falcon greatly loses to the swift in horizontal flight, which allows the second to elude its enemy. Although the black swift is a small bird (its wingspan is 40-46 cm), it can easily reach speeds of up to 150 or even 180 km/h.
These birds live their entire lives in the air, where they spend all 24 hours, and black swifts live for just over three years. These birds even manage to sleep in flight: having risen to a height of 2 to 3 thousand meters, they circle there in a spiral, waking up every 5 seconds to make another flap of their wings.
3rd place. Grey-headed albatross
Grey-headed albatross (lat. Thalassarche chrysostoma) is a seabird with the largest wingspan - 3.5 m! Naturally, the albatross cannot make such dizzying dives as the peregrine falcon, but it can fly at speeds of up to 130 km/h, which it can maintain for 8 hours.
In addition, he can sleep at an altitude of about 2-3 kilometers, circling almost in one place. Thanks to its unique speed qualities, the grey-headed albatross is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
4th place. Gaga
Eiders (lat. Somateria) is a species of large seabird. An eider in horizontal flight can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h. Although it is not as fast as an albatross, it has excellent swimmer qualities: with the help of its wings, the eider can dive to a depth of 20 meters, where it catches fish, crustaceans, various invertebrates and mollusks. Eiders almost never come onto land.
5th place. Pigeon
Pigeons are excellent flyers with incredible memories. Thanks to this quality, carrier pigeons have been used at all times to send correspondence. Especially during the Second World War. The flight speed of a carrier pigeon is 85-100 km/h. They can fly for about 16 hours – without rest! In many countries, monuments have been erected to the carrier pigeon.
6th place. Starling
Starlings (lat. Sturnus vulgaris) is a small bird that not only sings beautifully, but also flies beautifully, reaching flight speeds of up to 70 km/h. The starling can travel hundreds of kilometers during its annual seasonal migration. It should be noted that starlings are capable of flying into the opening of their “home” at high speed without injuring it at all.
7th place. Field Thrush
Fieldfare (lat. Turdus pilaris) – differs from the rest of its fellows in its way of life. It likes to settle in small copses and park areas - this bird cannot be found in dense forests. The very name of this bird speaks of its extraordinary love for mountain ash. Despite the fact that it is slightly larger than the starling, its speed is lower - about 70 km/h.
8th place. Swallows
Swallows are often confused with swifts, however, swallows have wider wings and a more pronounced “fork” of the tail. In addition, swallows are inferior to swifts in speed. The speed of a coastal swallow or a barn swallow is about 65 km/h. But swallows are much more maneuverable than swifts; they can easily, not only at high speed, but also practically on the spot, turn 360 degrees.
9th place. Common kestrel
Common kestrel (lat. Falco tinnunculus) is a bird of prey, a distant relative of the peregrine falcon. Hunts small rodents, attacking them from above. Develops speeds up to 60-65 km/h. Easily alternates between slow and rapid flight, preferring soft gliding in the air.
10th place. Chizh
Chizh (lat. Carduelis spinus) is a small songbird that almost never descends to the ground, preferring to perch on tree branches. In the air, a siskin can reach speeds of up to 60 km/h.