Getting to grips with bird landing

Even casual observations of flying birds, bats and insects reveal the adept and seemingly effortless ability of these creatures to land and take off safely from a wide variety of surfaces, whether these are tree branches, telephone wires, flowers or rocks. Combining these measurements with close-up, high-speed video recordings of the landing movements of the bird's wings, body, legs, feet and claws provided detailed information about the landing events associated with achieving a stable perch (see videos from the paper at go.nature. com/2nbfhtq and go.nature.com/2perfs9). Using laser scans and indentation tests to assess changes in the properties of the perch surface, Roderick and colleagues could relate the friction experienced by the birds' toes and claws to the animals' gripping movements, and showed how the movements ofthe bird's claws are adjusted to anchor the claws to perches of differing diameters and surface features.