Birds perching on electrical wires or tree branches have a common behavior. Have you ever noticed that, with some exceptions (which we will mention), these birds all look in the same direction?

In this article, we wanted to address this situation that almost everyone sees every day, but few people notice.

Birds usually have a heavy front side and a light tail side where their wings are extended.

For this reason, they experience less wind resistance when they fly into the wind. The same is true when they are put on electrical wires. To reduce wind resistance, they all turn their trunks wherever the wind blows. When they turn their heavy front side to the wind direction, they can stand more firmly against the wind.

Also, feathers facing backwards are suitable for this direction of airflow.

When the wind blows against them, they do not fluff their feathers and their balance is not disturbed because it flows over their wings. If they were looking in the opposite direction; The incoming wind would make their feathers fluff, upsetting the balance of this light part and making it difficult for them to stand firmly on the ground. That’s why birds; Even if the wind changes direction, they will always be facing the same direction due to their aerodynamic structure.

The second advantage of looking towards the wind is that it is easier and more controlled to fly from where they land in case of danger.

At first glance, it may not have made sense for birds to fly against the wind when they have the wind behind them. But remember that planes take off with the wind against them. Because the head wind increases the speed of the air flow passing through the wings of the aircraft and enables the aircraft to take off more quickly.

Or, to give a simpler example, consider kites. Even if you run for hours with the wind behind you, it will not take off. You have to run against the wind to take off.

But what happens when the weather is windless?

Photo: Soroush Javadi / Flickr

As you can imagine, because the direction the birds are facing depends on the wind, and when it’s not windy, the birds look in randomly chosen directions. Just like in the photo above.

• Sources: Junkie, Bird Fact