New Research Proves the Bird’s “V” Formation is Aerodynamic

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The brilliance of nature’s genius has been proven once again. New research shows that the bird’s “V” formation is aerodynamic for real. In flight formation, each bird has an assigned position and each flap of the wing is precisely timed to conserve energy. What does this mean? The bird in front takes around 40 % of the brunt of the headwind, lending a hand to those in back.

A wide variety of birds fly together in a symmetric V-shaped formation, especially during long distance flight or migration. This pattern of formation save energy and improve the aerodynamic performance of birds. The birds flying at the tips and at the front interchange positions in a timely cyclical fashion to spread flight fatigue equally among the flock members.

Studies of Waldrapp ibis show that birds spatially coordinate the phase of wing flapping. It is also proved that wingtip path coherence when flying in V positions enable them to maximally utilise the available energy of upwash over the entire flap cycle. In opposite, birds flying in a stream do not have wingtip coherence in their flight pattern and their flapping is out of phase. This discovery has been reported in the journal Nature.

The experiment was as follows. The scientists observed a 1000 km bird migration route from Salzburg to Orbetello. The birds wore custom-made data loggers that allowed the researchers to track flapping, speed and direction. The devices included an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, a memory card, a battery, a microcontroller and a GPS unit.

The researchers analysed the birds’ positions over 7 minutes of flight and compared those observations with theoretical predictions generated by aerodynamic models. An analysis of 24,000 flaps showed that the ibises on average adjusted their position and wing phase to optimise the lift from the vortices, and readjusted their phasing when they changed positions within the V.

The open question is how the birds know to fly in these optimal spots. Experts say they might have good sensors and adjust to find spots that feel good.