Pictures of animals in flight -

A Web Page by Roy J. Beckemeyer

Last Updated 11 October 2001

Some of the pictures included here are from high speed (1000 fps) video footage taken by Bill Wentz (NIAR), Roy Beckemeyer, and Velvet Hutson (NIAR) in a project conducted to provide films of insect flight for an exhibit at Exploration Place. The photo at right shows Roy Beckemeyer (wearing cap) and Al DeSena (Director, Exploration Place) during a filming session in the Butterfly House at Botanica, The Wichita Gardens in July, 1999.

Link to pictures of: BIRD FLIGHT / INSECT FLIGHT: / Bumblebees / Damselflies / Dragonflies / True Flies

Bird Flight:

Here are a variety of photos, taken with a 70-200mm f2.8 zoom lens and 2x telextender on a Nikon N90S, of Asian Openbill Storks flying around at Wat Phai Lom Sanctuary near Bangkok in January 2000:

The bird on the left is gliding in to its nesting site with nesting material in its beak. Note the streamlined position of the legs and feet, and that the alula is down. You can see the wing camber, and note that the separated primary feathers at the wing tips have varying degrees of curvature - the leading edge ones loaded so that they bend upward, the rest curved downward. No separated flow regions are visible on the upper surface of the wings, back, or tail.

The stork on the right is also gliding in streamlined configuration, and the angle of the photo clearly shows the variously-loaded primary feathers at the wing tips.

This bird is on final approach. Landing gear down, leading edge device (alula) visibly deployed on left wing (right one hidden behind neck), tail spread, feathers on rump and under tail appear to be ruffled.

Photos such as these can reveal much information and open many questions about aspects of bird flight, including the mechanics of maneuvering and control.

Insect Flight:

Bumblebee Flight:

Here are two photos from a high speed video sequence of a bumblebee hovering and slowly doing a pirouette away from the flower (Botanica, July 1999).

The left photo shows the wings almost in the extreme back stroke position, the right extreme fore stroke. A line drawn from each wing tip from the back to the front extreme would show the stroke plane to be approximately horizontal. The video sequence also reveals the torsional deformation of the wing, twisting so as to have positive camber on both the fore and back strokes, and generating lift on each stroke as well. This method of hovering (body nearly vertical, stroke plane horizontal), called "normal hovering" by the early students of insect flight, is also practiced by hummingbirds and sphinx moths.

This photo pair shows a bumblebee in slow climbing flight to the upper right. The body is at a smaller angle, and a line drawn from the tip of the wings in the extreme back stroke position to the tips in the extreme fore stroke position would revel the stroke plane to be tilted forward edge down about 10 degrees.

Bumblebees have four wings, but are functionally two-winged, the front and hind wings moving together in phase.

Damselfly Flight:

Damselflies have four wings, and are functionally four-winged, the wings beating almost 180 degrees out of phase. The photos below showing the wings at the extreme stroke positions.

In the left image, the damselfly's fore wings are at the extreme forward stroke. In the right image, they are in their extreme rearward position. The stroke plane is inclined a bit down to the front, and the body is becoming more horizontal as the insect transitions from taking off nearly vertically (actually pushing off up and to the rear from its perch) to forward flight. Its wings twist, inertia helping to rotate them, at the ends of the stroke into position to have positive camber on both forward and rearward strokes. These insects look very much like little helicopters as they fly.

Damselfly video taken in July 1998, Butler County, Kansas.

DRAGONFLY FLIGHT:

These photos were taken with a Nikon 35mm camera body and a Sigma 70-210mm APO Zoom f2.8 with a 2x telextender for f5.6. Film was Fuji 100 slide film. Photos were taken without flash at the Blackfire Ranch in New Mexico (near Angelfire). The dragonfly is Aeshna palmata. The insects were hovering along the bank of the lake.

The photo on the left shows the fore wings almost in mid downstroke. Note the turned up tips and the evident camber and twist of the front wings. The hind wings are on the upstroke, and appear to be almost viewed in planform from the front aspect of the camera.

In the photo on the right, the fore wings appear to be just a bit earlier in their downward stroke than in the first picture, and the hind wings near the low point of the downstroke, and on the way up.

In this photo (left) the fore wings are just beginning the downstroke. The hind wings appear to be approaching the back position on the upstroke.

The last photo (below left) shows the fore wings approaching the furthest down position, with the trailing edge beginning to twist around and flip the wing for the upstroke. The hind wings appear to be near the maximum upstroke point but have not yet started down.

True Flies:

The photos at right show a pair of flies in copula that were hovering in our garden. The pictures were taken with a Sony digital camera. The female appears to be supported by the male, with the female's wings held still and the male's wings flapping.