3/14/2023 0 Comments Wandering albatross wingspan![]() Some of the information in this article was plucked from these sources:ĭereck Onley and Paul Scofield, Albatrosses, Petrels, and Shearwaters of the World.ĭavid Allen Sibley, The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. Even if it means they have to drink seawater when they are thirsty. I bet the albatrosses prefer being albatrosses. It must be rather difficult to find a squid from one of those things, let alone drop down and pluck it from the water’s surface for a tasty meal. But think of it from the albatross’s point of view: What are those strange creatures who spend all their time stuck fast to the land? Occasionally they go up in one of those metal fixed-wing monsters with high wing-loading. It is hard for humans to envision the weeks, months, even years that Wandering Albatrosses spend at sea. Wandering Albatross, high wing-loading and very high aspect ratio This makes up for the high wing-loading, so they can soar for hours and still be maneuverable when they need to be. But they also have high aspect ratio wings, in the extreme. Where do our albatrosses fit into this scheme of things? They are quite heavy-bodied birds, so they have high wing-loading. Turkeys and ptarmigans, with low aspect ratio wings, create lots of turbulence, creating all that wing flapping noise, and basically just fly fast and straight to escape from a possible predator. Thus, birds with high aspect ratio wings can soar for prolonged periods of time and still maintain their maneuverability-i.e., turn on a dime. Turbulence is a soaring bird’s worst enemy, because it decreases lift and increases drag. An advantage of long, narrow wings with high aspect ratio is that they have a lot of wing area for lift, but they do not generate much turbulence as they move through the air. Low aspect ratio wings are about as long as they are wide. A wing with high aspect ratio is long and narrow. The second concept to consider is aspect ratio, the relationship between wing length versus wing width. Thus, eagles have relatively low wing-loading, that ratio of body weight to wing area, and can generate lots of lift whether flapping or soaring. All that wing area can generate lots of lift. On the other hand, a Bald Eagle, though a robust bird to be sure, has very broad, wide wings. Turkeys rarely fly except when they are in escape mode.īald Eagle, high aspect ratio – photo by Bill Majoros That kind of flight is expensive, and their wing muscles get tired quickly. Turkeys burst into the air making a huge noise, flapping their wings very rapidly, but they don’t (can’t) fly very far. If you have ever been startled by a Wild Turkey exploding out of the trees in front of you as you walk quietly along a forest path, you know what it’s like for a bird to have high wing-loading. Birds with high wing-loading, think chickens and turkeys (or the Rock Ptarmigan pictured here), tend to be very heavy and have short, stubby wings. Heavy birds need to generate lots of lift in order to fly. The lift a bird can generate is directly related to the surface area of its wings-the more surface, the more lift. Wing-loading is the relationship between body weight and wing surface area. How do they do it? What are the adaptations they have gained through evolution that make it possible for them to live this amazing life in the air? First, consider the concept of wing-loading. ![]() To get off the water, they turn into the wind, flap their wings a couple of times, and get back into gliding mode. They rarely dive into the water, but rather settle onto the surface and pluck up their prey. They spot food from the air-squid, fish, crustaceans and even dead whales and seals floating at or near the surface. Wandering Albatrosses do have to land on the water to feed. But Wandering Albatrosses live in a windy part of the world, the southern oceans, so this is rarely a problem for them. Hauling all that weight around becomes very expensive. If there is no wind, however, they become becalmed. (Try holding your arms out for just 10 minutes!) In moderate to heavy winds, albatrosses can do this for hours at a time with negligible energy costs. They can lock their wings in this gliding posture, so they don’t have to spend energy holding their wings out. They simply fly in wide arcs, swooping downwind toward the water, then catching the updrafts off the waves and gliding upward (called dynamic soaring). ![]() I have watched Wandering Albatrosses follow a ship I was on for hours without ever beating their wings. Travel: up to 75,000 miles per year (circumnavigating the Southern Ocean 3 times).Weight: up to 28 pounds (Think about a large Thanksgiving turkey.).Wingspan: up to 11 feet 6 inches (My ‘wingspan,’ fingertip to fingertip, is 5 feet 6 inches.). ![]()
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