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Note: I am not sure this is the right site, but I believe birds are off-topic on Aviation SE.


Has a bird of any species ever been seen experiencing an aerodynamic stall by increasing the angle of attack (AoA) over its wings or flying at too low of an airspeed?

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  • $\begingroup$ I suppose you could technically call a dive a "stall". Watch a predatory bird stalking prey sometime. Once they're ready to attack, some species will just fold in their wings and let gravity do its thing for a time. $\endgroup$
    – MattDMo
    Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 20:38
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    $\begingroup$ For a while, yes. They're in full control of the dive, so they can change direction using their tail if necessary, and can unfurl their wings to adjust speed whenever they want. It's not uncontrolled, just unpowered. On the other hand, there are birds that do power dives - flapping while diving. Here is an eagle doing just that. $\endgroup$
    – MattDMo
    Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 20:46
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    $\begingroup$ And here is a blue-footed booby diving with wings folded. $\endgroup$
    – MattDMo
    Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 20:48
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    $\begingroup$ Where have you looked for an answer to this question? Because basically stall is the mechanism by which many birds land on a perch. $\endgroup$
    – kmm
    Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 22:47
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    $\begingroup$ Somewhat related $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 21, 2023 at 14:24

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Yes.

Kereru (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) from New Zealand do a type of display flying where they deliberately induce a stall by flying on an upwards curve and allowing momentum loss to decrease air-speed such that they stall.

A video of this can be found linked through iNaturalist on Youtube.

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    $\begingroup$ Kereru were my first thought too. Nice work finding a video, they often fly to a decent height before stalling. So great to watch them on a windy day. $\endgroup$
    – Michael_A
    Commented Mar 21, 2023 at 2:09

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