This activity will combine elements of aerodynamics and natural history to illustrate:

• how birds fly (physics, aerodynamics, vectors);
• how different birds fly in different ways and why they do so (biology); and
• how different birds have adapted different types of feathers in order to enable them to fly in different ways (biology.)

An introductory classroom session will discuss these topics, then a variety of feathers will be handed around and each type will be examined and the specialist adaptations discussed within the group.

Participants will be invited to handle the feathers and move them around in the air so that they can feel the effects of lift and drag, as well as imagining and drawing vector diagrams for the feathers.

Live birds will also be in attendance so that participants can meet the birds and better understand their specialist adaptations.

The session is being presented by the Blackwood Valley Raptor Centre, and the focus will be on native raptorial species, particularly on owls which have unique adaptations.