Tiny Adorable Bird Goggles Allow Innovative Study of Flight

I think this is adorable and a really interesting way to study flight! I can't believe they chose a parrotlet though, it seems incredibly difficult to fit the goggles to a birdie that small.

Tiny Adorable Bird Goggles Allow Innovative Study of Flight

Aquila said:

I think this is adorable and a really interesting way to study flight! I can't believe they chose a parrotlet though, it seems incredibly difficult to fit the goggles to a birdie that small.

Tiny Adorable Bird Goggles Allow Innovative Study of Flight

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Likely the parrotlet was owned one of the members of the study group and so, guess who got chosen?

The use of goggles is interesting since birds fly in the wind all the time. I'm guessing that the wind tunnel has junk in it from past studies, hence the requirement for goggles.

Note, the separation between the wing feathers along the body and the body feathers on the upstroke. That allows air from above the wind to flow under the wing reducing the pressure (down force) above the wing. That one little feature accounts for 45 percent of the transfer of air from above the wing to below the wing and greatly increasing lift during the compression stroke (down stroke).

Great video!

Really cool! The goggles are for protection from the lasers that are used to capture the motions!

Thanks for posting a fascinating article and video!

I was going to pounce on the article notion that we still don't fully understand how an aircraft wing produces lift - until clicking on the reference. Turns out the theory taught in flight schools is a gross oversimplification of the physics!

Some of our very early efforts at flight included contraptions that simulated wing flapping. Interesting to note we may see ultra light-weight drones using such methods!

It is very hard to improve on Mother Nature!!

Scott said:

Thanks for posting a fascinating article and video!

I was going to pounce on the article notion that we still don't fully understand how an aircraft wing produces lift - until clicking on the reference. Turns out the theory taught in flight schools is a gross oversimplification of the physics!

Some of our very early efforts at flight included contraptions that simulated wing flapping. Interesting to note we may see ultra light-weight drones using such methods!

It is very hard to improve on Mother Nature!!

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Those light-weight flapping drones are out there, but still a couple of years from production.

Aircraft do not fly! They are powered gliders! Turn-off the powder source and hope that your gliding skills are up to handling your short glide.

SailBoat said:

Those light-weight flapping drones are out there, but still a couple of years from production.

Aircraft do not fly! They are powered gliders! Turn-off the powder source and hope that your gliding skills are up to handling your short glide.

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Ain't that the truth!