Adapted to flying
Flying, in its true sense, is the ability to move through the air under your own power and has evolved in different groups of animals. Flight is a very energy demanding method of locomotion compared to walking. Some species, such as the peregrine falcon, are extraordinarily well adapted to flying. Others, like the albatross, look like they shouldn't be airborne at all, but are in fact fantastically efficient flyers. In spite of their name, flying squirrels and flying lizards don't fly, but glide.
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Ghost birds
Natural World
Barn owls appear supernatural as they hunt in daylight.
Barn owls appear supernatural as they hunt in daylight.
Vulture vantage point
Great Rift: Africa's wild heart
Soaring seven miles above the plains, vultures spot their next meal.
Soaring seven miles above the plains, vultures spot their next meal.
Bumpy landings
Natural World
Young divers have to learn how to stop flying too.
Black-throated divers are one of the rarest birds in the UK. This clip shows the dramatic first landing of a youngster still struggling to learn the basics. It demonstrates how being in the right place at the right time still helps even the most experienced filmmakers come up trumps when an unexpected event plays out.
First flight
Natural World
High winds prove irresistible to sea eaglets.
Documentary revealing the unique wildlife of the Scottish Highlands, seen through the eyes of filmmaker Fergus Beeley. Featuring rare black-throated divers.
Fantastic fishing
Life
Greater bulldog bats exhibit their skills in slow motion.
Greater bulldog bats justify the comparative in their name by catching fish. In the dark. While flying at 40 miles per hour. Against oncoming traffic.
Monarch migration
Life
A 2,000 mile migration takes monarch butterflies to Mexico for hibernation.
Despite having never flown more than a few hundred metres, Canadian monarch butterflies must fly a hundred miles over the surface of Lake Erie to the relative warmth of the more southern forests. Joined by monarchs from all over North America, they coat the trees as they sit out the winter, waiting to burst into life once more.
Featured in the following TV programmes
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Coming soon
Natural World: 2009-2010, The Wild Places of Essex
Writer Robert Macfarlane explores the unexpected landscapes and natural history of Essex.
Wed 10, 20:00 on BBC Two
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Catch Up
Great Rift: Africa's wild heart: Fire
Looking at the unique wildlife of East Africa's volcanic mountains.
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Archived
Life in the Undergrowth: TAKING TO THE AIR
From the stunning aerobatics of hoverflies to the mass migration of purple crow butterflies this film tells the story of the winged insects.
Species with this adaptation
Birds
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Bar-headed goose
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Barnacle goose
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Mandarin duck
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Snow goose
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Whooper swan
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Common cuckoo
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African fish eagle
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American black vulture
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Crowned eagle
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Eleonora's falcon
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Golden eagle
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Honey buzzard
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Kestrel
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Lammergeier
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Peregrine falcon
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Red kite
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Ruppell's vulture
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Sparrowhawk
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White-tailed sea eagle
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Capercaillie
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Pheasant
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Temminck's tragopan
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Black-throated diver
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Great northern diver
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Demoiselle crane
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Red-crowned crane
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Siberian crane
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Kingfisher
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Pied kingfisher
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Southern carmine bee-eater
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White-fronted bee-eater
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Barn owl
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Burrowing owl
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Eurasian eagle owl
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Short-eared owl
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Tawny owl
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Burrowing parrot
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Kea
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Little corella
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Ringnecked parakeet
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Cape gannet
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Magnificent frigatebird
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Red-billed tropicbird
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Socotra cormorant
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Blackbird
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Blue bird of paradise
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Common crossbill
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King bird of paradise
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Magnificent bird of paradise
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Raggiana bird of paradise
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Red-billed quelea
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Robin
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Rook
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Sand martin
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Six-wired bird of paradise
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Starling
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Superb bird of paradise
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Superb lyrebird
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Swallow
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Vogelkop bowerbird
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Wire-tailed manakin
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Greater flamingo
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Lesser flamingo
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Great spotted woodpecker
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Magellanic woodpecker
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Clark's grebe
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Arctic skua
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Herring gull
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Kittiwake
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Knot
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Lesser black-backed gull
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South polar skua
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Buff-necked ibis
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Wood stork
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Andean hillstar
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Marvellous spatuletail
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Galápagos petrel
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Snow petrel
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Storm petrel
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Wandering albatross
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Waved albatross
Insects
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Common wasp
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European honey bee
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Great diving beetle
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Harlequin ladybird
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High brown fritillary
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Large blue butterfly
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Purple emperor butterfly
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Banded demoiselle
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Tisza mayfly
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Desert locust
Mammals
Common blossom bat 
Greater bulldog bat 
Little bent-wing bat 
Straw-coloured fruit bat About
Flight is the process by which an object moves either through the air, or movement beyond earth's atmosphere (as in the case of spaceflight), by generating lift, propulsive thrust or aerostatically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement.
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Featured in...
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What on Earth...? 2009
Watch the year's highlights from the BBC's exploration of the planet's hidden corners and rarest creatures: from the turquoise seas of the South Pacific to the Lost Land of the Volcano.
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The wildlife of Life
In autumn 2009, a major new series brought us life as we've never seen it before.
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David Attenborough's favourite moments
David Attenborough's favourite moments from the last 30 years represent not only memorable personal experiences, but also the diversity of life on our planet and the rapidly changing technological face of broadcasting.
Other Locomotion Adaptations
- Adapted to climbing
- Adapted to flying
- Adapted to gliding
- Adapted to jumping
- Adapted to swimming
- Sessile
Elsewhere on the web
- Flight (wikipedia.org)
Site links
BBC links
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