Tags for this video have been changed from 'peregrine, falcon, national geographic, dive, hogh speed' to 'peregrine, falcon, national geographic, dive, high speed' - edited by jonny

Great stuff!

Peregrines are amazing. I used to work on the 20th floor of a building in NYC near a bridge where a released pair nested and got to see them hunt (pigeons) and play in the air (they used to zoom around between buildings seemingly for nothing other than the fun of it). It was an incredible thrill to watch.

I read years ago that an aeronautical engineer skeptical of the 200+ MPH speeds attributed to Peregrines had tested a Peregrine cadaver in a wind tunnel and measured its terminal velocity at something like 75 MPH. He assumed that a live bird would be able to make itself somewhat more aerodynamic so his estimate of their actual speed was around 100 MPH. It looks like he grossly underestimated their ability to streamline.

This is possibly the most farcical reporting from NG that I have ever seen--NG's reputation plummets faster than the falcon's reported speed of 242 mph. All the laws of physics are being broken here--just like UFO sightings where the laws of inertia never seem to hold. A lot of questions automatically arise: 1) What does the computer do? 2) What is the drag coefficient of the leaded bait? 3) Why not drop bait with a GPS attached? 4) Where is the cameraman who catches the falcon catching the bait? 5) Do the jumpers go belly down or head down?

The notion that a bird can fly faster than the fastest arrow is something only a fool will believe, and it is clear that everyone doing the talking in this area is a fool. When GPS gets reduced in size to where a bird can wear one, all this idiocy will be shown for what it is, and the falcons will be seen to never break 90mph. It's amazing that such fraudulent science can be swallowed by NG's incompetent editors, but that seems to be what happens when science is popularized, with dollars outweighing hard evidence, and when there are no good physicists on the editorial board.

242mph! What gibberish. --AGF

Hello

Peregrines are tremendously amazing, terrific, brave and mainly beautiful, both perched in flight.

However, the publication we see above by National Geographic is an absurde and erronious desecration of some soo pure and beautiful as are Mathematics and Phisics.

Actually, after the video we do not nothing about the experience... to start it should not be anything near of tyhe Peregrine if we want measure its air speed, otherwise for example the drag caused by the lure will pulled ahead the falcon and it get more speed; Worst if there are people falling below the falcon.

In my opinion, what increases the parasite drag in the Peregrine body, in such a way that the Peregrine terminal speed (150 or 200km/h) is well above theoretical values for 'ideal' falcons (about 500km/h), is the fact that the feathers of the falcon are not stable a such high speeds.

(!!!And still the question: What does the computer do?)


A.C.
Portugal

*reclaimvote .

Bird Aerodynamics
or why Herons, Cranes and Egrets don't extend their necks when flying.


There is a point where the length of the neck is no longer aerodynamic and the sharply pointed beak is better kept right in front of the body. They would not get any "lift" from their narrow, pointed beaks but, that shape does pierce the air quite nicely. Just like the nose of a jet aircraft.

Ducks and geese fly with their necks outstretched.
The flat bills of ducks and geese aid in acquiring "lift". I'm willing to bet that they can actually rest their "chins" on the wind as they fly. They now design highly efficient aircraft that utilize the canard (fr. duck) profile that features a small wing way out in front.

All flying birds also get lift from the way air flows easily over their straight backs but, pushes their rounder undersides upward as they propel themselves through the air with their wings.

Want more? lol
The pointed, elongated cone shape of the Heron's beak pierces the air and makes a cone shaped vacuum that is widened even further by the shape of the front of the bird. As the air is forced around the bird, frontal drag is reduced. If the neck was extended, this effect would be lost and the vacuum would collapse right behind it's head, in front of the bird's body, and the air would rush back in, the bird's body would fly into turbulence.

The wide, flat bills of ducks and geese create a wedge shaped vacuum as the birds propel themselves through the air. If you have ever noticed, their wings beats have a very short up and down travel distance, staying just on the edge of the vacuum wedge that their bills have created. Even the geese flock formations are based on creating an even larger wedge shaped vacuum for all of them to travel within.

The vacuums that birds create not only reduce drag, they create thrust. That is how the shape of a Peregrine Falcon enables it to exceed the pull of gravity ("freefall or "terminal velocity") without flapping it's wings. In a dive, the Peregrine's form, past it's head, becomes a very long cone shape. The vacuum that it's head creates while moving through the air, collapses behind it's head and the air starts rushing back in around the contoured shape of the bird, from front to back, propelling the bird forward. Same design as fish. If you've ever tried to tighten your grip on the tapered back end of a fish, you know that it shoots forward out of your grasp. And, the tighter you try to squeeze, the faster it goes. Lost a couple of good ones that way.

*wings

Adding video to channels (Wings) - requested by ant.