Wing shapes and what they tell you

A bird’s wing shape is a record of how it lives. Once you learn to read it, a distant silhouette can tell you whether you are looking at a falcon, an eagle, a swift or a seabird before you see any colour.

Four wing types

• Elliptical wings are short and rounded. They give fast take-off and tight turns among branches: think of pheasants, many songbirds and forest hawks.
• High-speed wings are pointed and swept back, with little drag. Falcons, swifts and swallows use them for fast, sustained flight.
• High aspect ratio wings are long and very narrow. Albatrosses and shearwaters use them to glide over the sea for hours with very little flapping.
• Slotted high-lift wings are broad, with primary tips spread like fingers. Eagles, vultures and storks use them to soar slowly on rising warm air.

Using it in the field

When a raptor passes overhead, ask first: are the wings broad and fingered (a soaring buteo or eagle), long and pointed (a falcon), or short and rounded with a long tail (a forest hawk)? That single question removes most wrong answers.