Andean Condors Can Fly for Up to 100 Miles Without Flapping Its Wings Taking Advantage of the Air Currents

For many years, people have been observing birds in the sky and wish they can fly too. There are almost as many ways of flying as there are many kinds of birds.

According to Sir Isaac Newton, the greater the mass of an object, the more it is pulled down by gravity. But birds can fly because they have adapted, such as having hollow bones and feathers. Additionally, their center of gravity is the balance point between its wings, head, and tail.

To fly well, birds have most of their weight in their center of gravity with very little weight in front or behind them. The feathers on their wings help them fly, and when they soar, they take advantage of the air currents.

The downbeat movement of the wings moves their wingtips upward and downward. The downstroke allows the wingtips to make a loop at the bottom, while as the wings move up, the wingtips move upward and backward.

Flapping birds have smaller wings than soaring wings, so they have to move faster compared to them. Researchers from Swansea University in the UK found that Andean condor, one of the largest flying birds on the planet, can fly without flapping its wings for up to 100 miles (172 kilometers).

Andean Condor Flies Without Flapping

The scientists attached data recorders to Andean condors to record every single flap of its wings as well as the flight paths of the birds. They did that to take an in-depth look at the connection between environmental conditions and the amount of effort large birds put into flying.

The researchers published their research on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They found out that Andean condors only flap their wings 1% of the time they fly. Most of the flapping happens when they take off or when they are flying near the ground.

Moreover, the soaring stamina of condors is impressive. But these massive birds must choose their battles when they expend their energy on flapping the wings.

Co-author Hannah Williams of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior said that their results revealed the number of birds flapped did not change significantly with the weather.

Their findings suggest that it is crucial for the birds when deciding when and where to land, so as not only do these birds need to be able to take off again, but it is also vital that landings will add substantial overall flight costs.

"Overall, this can help explain how extinct birds with twice the wingspan of condors could have flown," the research said.

Andean Condors Take Advantage of the Air Currents

The Andean condor's expertise in soaring helps them scavenge for food, which requires them hours of circling high mountains to forage for a meal, said Sergio Lambertucci, a study co-author from the National University of Comahue.

Condors take advantage of the thermal air currents as they fly. These behavior were all recorded using devices that are programmed to fall off after a week. But scientists sometimes had a hard time retrieving them because it drops into nests in the middles of Andes Mountains, which took three days to retrieve them.