Have you ever wondered how high can birds actually fly? In this article we’re going to discuss a bird’s ability to fly, but more specifically how high they can actually fly. We’ll give you some examples of how high various species fly as well as some interesting facts.
Let’s have a look!
How high can birds fly?
Birds can literally fly at any height from a few inches (or centimeters) above the surface of the earth to over 30,000 feet. In fact, the greatest height a bird has reached that has been measured is 37,000 ft, when a Ruppell’s vulture hit an airplane at that height in 1974.
At the other extreme, a barn swallow will often swoop and fly only about 4 inches (10 cms) above the earth, as they look for insects. A small bird, like the nuthatch, can fly very short distances at only a few inches above the ground when it is looking for food.
Birds rely on their ability to fly
Birds seem to enjoy flitting and flying around, but they do not fly for fun. There are a few reasons for birds to fly: to get from one place to another, catch prey or escape from something.
Getting from one place to another can be as simple as moving from the nest to a tree nearby, or it can be as complicated as a bird migrating across half the earth. Many types of birds catch prey literally ‘on-the-wing’ and need to fly to do so. When a bird is threatened, it will inevitably try to escape by flying away.
Different birds fly to different heights for different reasons. A falcon, for example, will need to fly high, so that it can look down over quite a big area to look for prey. A dove will only fly to a small height so that it can digest food before finding another tree to feed on.
How they are able to fly
Sometimes, it seems as though a bird just needs to flap its wings a few times to get up into the air, then they just cruise along. Actually, flying is quite a complicated phenomenon if you analyze it. If not, surely we could all go flying around?
Birds are specifically made to fly, with very light bones, a streamlined shape, strong chest muscles, a tail and, of course, their wings.
The basic principle of flight is that the bird flaps its wings, creating pressure against the air that is forced downwards, which causes them to rise. This is called lift.
If a bird had to flap its wings at the same speed and pressure for every moment of every flight, it would become exhausted and not be able to fly any distance at all.
Some birds are specifically designed to flap their wings very often. The hummingbird can flap its wings up to 90 times a second. Others, like birds of prey, can fly for a long time with hardly any flapping.
Examples of birds that fly the highest
Among all the birds, there are those that fly higher than the others, because they are looking for food, or traveling great distances and need the height to help them on their way.
1. Ruppell’s vulture
The king of the high flyers in the bird world is Ruppell’s vulture, which can reach heights of up to 37,000 ft (11,300 m). Like other members of the vulture family, these birds use their huge wingspan to catch the thermals and spend hours gliding on high, looking out over a great distance for any carrion to feed on.
2. Common crane
The heir apparent of the high flyers is the common crane, which can fly up to heights of 33,000 ft (10,000 m). Common cranes are migratory birds and need to cover great distances twice a year, so they have to fly high enough to benefit from the thinner air and to avoid obstacles on the earth, such as the Rocky Mountains.