Pigeon flap-running (WAIR) UM Flight Lab 2011-01-11 | Side and head-on views of an adult pigeon performing flap-running (WAIR) on a log at about a 70 degree incline, illustrating that even very flight-capable birds retain this likely primitive behavior.
Male calliope hummingbird maneuver UM Flight Lab 2019-06-11 | Captured with a Photron Fastcam Mini AX100 at 100,000Hz. Playback at 30 fps.
Female calliope hummingbird landing and feeding UM Flight Lab 2019-06-11 | Captured with a Photron Fastcam Mini AX100 at 100,000Hz. Playback at 30 fps.
Wanderings of a wasp UM Flight Lab 2019-06-11 | Captured with a Photron Fastcam Mini AX100 at 100,000Hz. Playback at 30 fps.
Female calliope hummingbird hover and landing UM Flight Lab 2019-06-11 | Captured with a Photron Fastcam Mini AX100 at 100,000Hz. Playback at 30 fps.
Female and male calliope humingbird joust UM Flight Lab 2019-06-11 | Captured with a Photron Fastcam Mini AX100 at 100,000Hz. Playback at 30 fps.
Pycno Flips UM Flight Lab 2016-11-25 | We are studying the effects of water temperature on capacity for activity in sea spiders using flip tests. Flip performance declines at warmer temperatures, which provides insight into potential effects of global warming upon these polar giants.
Scott Hut at Cape Evans UM Flight Lab 2016-11-08 | The Scott Hut at Cape Evans, on Ross Island, Antarctica, served from 1911-1913 as a base of operations for the Terra Nova Expedition.
Cooperative use of wings and legs during bird ontogeny UM Flight Lab 2016-03-25 | Among living birds, incipient wings or ‘protowings’ allow developing birds to seamlessly transition from flight incapable juvenile to flight capable adult, initially using their rudimentary flight apparatuses to improve leg performance (running, jumping, swimming) and later co-opting them for flight. For example, during wing-assisted incline running (WAIR), aerodynamic forces produced by the wings push the bird into the substrate and increase traction with its feet, allowing developing birds to flap-run up steeper and steeper inclines and eventually fly (ontogeny of WAIR in Chukar Partridges (Alectoris chukar), from UM Flightlab). Aerodynamic force contributions also (i) allow young birds that have flap-run up an obstacle to safely return to the ground by slowing and controlling their aerial descent (controlled flapping descent; Chukar Partridge, from UM Flightlab), and (ii) enhance jumping performance, by reducing the rate of deceleration once airborne and allowing juveniles to reach otherwise inaccessible elevated surfaces (ontogeny of jumping takeoffs in Chukar Partridges, from A. Heers). In aquatic environments, birds can paddle with their feet and use their wings like oars (‘steaming’), to increase swimming speed and/or help propel themselves through the water (Snowy Owlet (Bubo scandiacus), from PBS Nature youtube.com/watch?v=d2c-PHB18fU; ontogeny of steaming in Mallard ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos), from Terry Dial: youtube.com/watch?v=ixs-9AQeRZw). WAIR followed by CFD, wing-assisted jumps, and steaming all involve the cooperative use of wings and legs, which essentially acts as a developmental bridge between leg-based and wing-based locomotion and allows juveniles to smoothly progress from (i) leg-based, to (ii) leg+wing-based, to (iii) wing-based locomotor behaviors as they acquire the anatomical specializations of volant adults. Such behaviors are phylogenetically widespread (youtu.be/k94EDd8aKng), and may have played a similar role during the evolution of flight among extinct theropods dinosaurs.For more information, or to share videos/photos of these behaviors, visit http://hs.umt.edu/dbs/flightlab/ or the research gate profiles of A. Heers and K. Dial (researchgate.net/home).
The phylogeny of wing-assisted incline running (WAIR) (2016) UM Flight Lab 2016-03-25 | What is the evolutionary relevance of wing-assisted incline running/walking? Many authors have interpreted WAIR as derived and unrelated to the origin-of-flight among extinct theropod dinosaurs. However, wing-assisted incline running is no more derived than powered flight: given the phylogenetic distribution of this behavior, it is conservative to hypothesize that the common ancestor of birds that flap their wings to fly was also able to flap-run. WAIR is actually less derived than gliding: birds specialized for soaring (e.g., albatrosses, raptors, vultures) are more derived than many birds that flap-run (e.g., galliforms and tinamous). Phylogeny simplified from Prum et al. 2015.
Calliope Headshake UM Flight Lab 2016-03-03 | A male calliope hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) shaking excess sugar water out of its beak. Recorded at 1000 fps; playback at 30 fps.
Achelia chelata water flume UM Flight Lab 2015-09-12 | A sea spider (Achelia chelata, Pycnogonida) on a hydroid within a variable-speed water flume. Fluid dynamics are the link between this type of experiment using invertebrates and our usual experiments using birds.
High Speed Video of a Water Balloon we popped at SpectrUM! UM Flight Lab 2013-11-08 | We visited SpectrUM Science Museum (Missoula, MT) yesterday and had a lot of fun with our Phantom Miro high speed camera! This video was taken at 200 frames per second and is played back at 30 frames per second -- almost 7 times slowed down! What do you want to see in slow-mo?
Q: How does a bird deal with a flexible perch? A: Poorly. UM Flight Lab 2013-05-30 | High speed video of a Diamond dove (Geopelia cuneata taking off from a wood perch (flexural stiffness = 0.4). This video is part of an ongoing project to explore take-off performance in relation to the natural world a bird experiences. This research will be presented by Austin Smith & Kris Crandell at the Northwest Biomechanics Symposium in Moscow, ID.
FB_IR_hover_short.wmv UM Flight Lab 2012-06-07 | Dr. Don Powers (George Fox University) and Dr. Bret Tobalske (University of Montana), along with students Luke Andrew and Keaton Wilson, used a FLIR SC-6700 camera to record surface temperatures of a calliope hummingbird during hovering flight. This is part of an ongoing collaboration between Don and Bret in order to study the aerodynamics, flow field dynamics, and metabolic effort involved with hummingbird flight.
The phylogeny of wing assisted incline running UM Flight Lab 2011-01-12 | WAIR is ubiquitous among a number of avian orders, as displayed. This is not a complete sample of bird orders - the members of other orders likely perform WAIR as well. If you find video evidence, let us know!
3D vertical flight UM Flight Lab 2011-01-11 | A European Starling with markers on its wing and body flies vertically through a calibrated volume filmed by four synchronized high-speed cameras (filming at 250 frames per second). The motion can then be accurately captured and measured in 3D space.
Magpie muscle power in flight UM Flight Lab 2011-01-11 | A black-billed magpie flies vertically in the "Tower of Power" while we record muscle length change, muscle force, and muscle electrical activity (EMG). Muscle force plotted against muscle length change creates work-loops.
Devolopment of wing-assisted incline running UM Flight Lab 2011-01-11 | A developmental series of chukar partridges performing WAIR. Notice how the reptilian-like wing usage in the youngest birds quickly transitions to the adult style of flap-running.http://dbs.umt.edu/flightlab
Measuring magpie flight energetics UM Flight Lab 2011-01-11 | A Black-billed Magpie flying in the Flight Lab's windtunnel at two different speeds wearing custom respirometry masks. (From M.W. Bundle's dissertation)http://dbs.umt.edu/flightlab
Controlled flapping descent and the evolution of flight UM Flight Lab 2011-01-11 | After young chukars ascend an obstacle, they must descend, which they do readily from day one by launching themselves off a precipice, beating their wings on the way down. Older birds seem to have more control over the descent.
Wingbeat comparison between flight at WAIR UM Flight Lab 2011-01-11 | A single wingbeat comparison of a wingbeat in slow, level flight and WAIR up an 80 degree incline. There are significant differences relative to the body, but the wingbeats are very similar with respect to gravity.
Ubiquity of Wing-assisted incline running UM Flight Lab 2011-01-11 | A now greater phylogenetic series of birds performing WAIR covering one of the most basal clades (Tinamous) to the most derived (Passerines). Shown are Elegant Crested Tinamou, Brush Turkey, Chukar, Great Dusky Swift, Pigeon, Streaked Shearwater, Black-billed Magpie, and Hermit Thrush. Every species examined to date (more than 20) perform this apparently basal behavior.
When hatchlings outperform adults UM Flight Lab 2011-01-11 | Australian brush turkeys can fly the day the hatch, and run up inverted surfaces while flapping their wings, but it all goes downhill from there. With age, they become more leggy, heavier, and more restricted to 2-dimensional forms of locomotion. From our 2010 publication in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, and as covered by NPR, Science Friday, LiveScience. When hatchlings outperform adults - locomotor development in Australian brush turkeys (Alectura lathami, Galliformes).
