Egret landing

While this is not a great photo (background too busy and bird too far away) I was fascinated at how the secondary and teritariy feathers on the leading edge of the wings indicate a stall condition used by the egret in landing. Notice how the tertiaries in particular are lifted upwards from the wing, indicating detached flow just behind the leading edges . . . a class stall situation.

If none of this is of interest to you, please forgive me. I was a barely civil engineer before putting on the dog collar! Old interests die hard! Then again, part of my fascination with birds is how effortlessly they do what we humans do only at great effort and expense. It is a wonder to see it in action.

RevCurmudgeon

Off-hand I can't think of anywhere else I could have picked up that particular bit of wildlife knowledge. Thanks for the lesson and the photo. As an image it does have problems, as you say, but the wings and tail feathers are beautifully deployed, perfectly exposed, taken from an uncommon point of view, and have nice detail.

The detail in the top of the wings is really nice, very interesting. Looks like cotton or fresh fallin' snow. The lines of the back of the wings and tail are beautiful. While it does suffer from the background distraction and shadows on the neck and head, its really a neat image.

I can see an avaition design engineer just going nuts over this shot. They would be enjoying every aspect of the egret's design to master flight. Beautiful detail in the wings and feathers and an unusual perspective. Thanks for sharing!