If you tried to fly like a bird, you would surely fail. You would quickly realize that unlike humans, birds have a structure that has developed in order to facilitate their ability to fly. But what are these structural features that make birds such competent fliers?

For birds, the most important feature in terms of their flight ability are their wings, which are covered with flexible feathers.

Bird bones are hollow and light. Birds also have large lungs. Like mammals, birds have four-chambered hearts. The right ventricle of the heart pumps low-oxygen blood to the lungs, while the left ventricle pumps high-oxygen blood to the rest of the body. Because of their effective circulatory systems, birds are able to fly long distances.


The Arctic tern is a skilled flier.

The ability to fly requires precise and effective muscle control. Because of this, bird brains have developed a separate cerebellum that controls the muscle movements needed to fly. 

Nesting waterfowl do not need to fly a lot. For them, the more important priorities are to stay hidden from predators and to find food. As a result, waterfowl are often quite clumsy fliers. For example, swans take off quite slowly because of their large size. Likewise, diving duck species, such as pochards, have to run for some distance on the surface of the water before they have amassed enough speed to take of into flight. 

Despite the clumsiness of their take-off, most waterfowl are competent fliers once they are in the air. For example, many species of geese migrate between Siberia in the summer and Western Europe in the winter, which is quite a long distance to fly twice every year. 

Water environments are also the home for many skilled fliers, such as terns and seagulls. They acquire their food by swooping down to the surface of the water and catching fish in mid-flight. 

Canada goose.

In summary, birds are adapted to flying by having 

• large, efficient lungs.
• large, developed hearts.
• wings.
• feathers.
• specialized cerebella.
• light bones.