In the wild speed is of upmost importance, how fast an animal is ,is what differentiates a predator from a prey. In my previous article I wrote about the top fastest animals on earth, but today its going to be about the top fastest birds on the planet. So without further ado let’s begin
THE COMMON SWIFT
Common swift is a little medium-sized flying machine. This birdss has curved wings and a fork like tail that drastically improves their speeds. The common swifts can be found in their natural habitat, Europe and Asia, but migrate to southern Africa during winter.
Now let’s talk about their speed, the common swift has a speed of about 20-26 mph, and that is kind of cool, but what is cooler is that during their breeding season they could make speeds of up to 70mph as it tries to court with a mate, they achieve this speeds by altering their wing profile.
THE GREY HEADED ALBATROSS
This sea loving bird is quiet interesting in it’s own way. The grey headed Albatross could travel 7000 miles in search of food, they love the sea so much that the only time they return to land is during the breeding season to cater for their off-springs.
These birds have a wing span of over 7 feet but don’t so much fly, they prefer to glide along with the wind to reduce flapping their wings thereby conserving energy, this makes them reach a speed of about 80mph.
THE WHITE THROATED NEEDLE TAIL
These birds are also known as the storm bird, the needle tail gets it’s name from its shard needle like tail feathers. This bird is mainly found in Eastern Asia and spends it’s time feeding on little insects and flying. According to some research this bird is believed to be able to attain speeds of about 105mph.
THE RED TAILED HAWK
This Alaskan surprisingly not the fastest bird on this list , the red tailed hawk can only reach a speed of about 20-50mph in it’s normal day to day flight, but, don’t be fooled. This bad boy can reach a speed of about 120mph when diving, they could make a dive down to the earth and drastically increase their speed giving them the massive number.
THE GYRFALCON
The Gyrfalcon is the largest true falcon in the world, this white devils are one of the few artic birds that can breed in the frigid artic coast.
In terms of level flight speeds these birds easily makes its way to the top of this list, the falcon makes speeds of about 50 -68mph and can maintain this speed for a very wide range without stopping.
THE GOLDEN EAGLE
Upon a more intense research I discovered that the Golden eagle is not exactly the fastest animal in the world unlike what I earlier stated in my previous article top fastest animals on earth with flies topping the list, this bird isn’t the fastest bird on the planet also. Their average flight speed is just about 28-32mph . but they have an incredible dive speed of about 150-200mph, now that’s quite impressive isn’t it.
THE PEREGINE FALCON
Another falcon appearing on our list again, this time it tops it. The peregrine falcon beats all other birds on this list with is incredible 68mph for a normal flight and an outstanding 240mph as diving flight. This birds are known throughout human history as a symbol of haunting and culture.
The falcon reach this bad boy speeds by folding it’s wings aerodynamic wings against its body making it move against the air like an arrow.
I needed picture of these birds in this article. Btw it's totally full of information. Thank you :)