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This is a list of the fastest flying birds in the world. A bird's velocity is necessarily variable; a hunting bird will reach much greater speeds while diving to catch prey than when flying horizontally. The bird that can achieve the greatest airspeed is the peregrine falcon, able to exceed 320  km/h (200  mph) in its dives.[1][2] A close relative of the common swift, the white-throated needletail (Hirundapus caudacutus), is commonly reported as the fastest bird in level flight with a reported top speed of 169 km/h (105 mph). This record remains unconfirmed as the measurement methods have never been published or verified. The record for the fastest confirmed level flight by a bird is 111.5 km/h (69.3 mph) held by the common swift.[3]

Birds by flying speed

Common name Image Species Family Average horizontal speed Maximum horizontal speed Maximum airspeed Remark
Peregrine falcon Peregrine Falcon La Cañada.jpg Falco peregrinus Falconidae 65–90 km/h[4]
40-56 mph 		110 km/h[4]
68 mph 		389 km/h[5]
242 mph 		High-speed dive—pointed long wings
Saker falcon Falco cherrug (Marek Szczepanek).jpg Falco cherrug Falconidae 150 km/h[6]
93 mph 		320 km/h (200 mph)[7] High-speed dive—pointed long wings
Golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos USFWS.jpg Aquila chrysaetos Accipitridae 45–51 km/h[8]
28-32 mph 		129 km/h[8]
80 mph 		322 km/h[8]
200 mph
Grey-headed albatross Thalassarche chrysostoma - SE Tasmania.jpg Thalassarche Chrysostoma Diomedeidae 127 km/h[9][10][note 1]
78.9 mph 		2.2 m (7 ft 2 in) wingspan allows for high power use from wind.
Gyrfalcon Gyr falcon - Falco rusticolus - Fálki 8.jpg Falco rusticolus Falconidae 80–110 km/h 50-68 mph 145 km/h 90 mph[11] 187–209 km/h (116–130 mph)[12] High-speed dive—pointed long wings
White-throated needletail White-throated Needletail kobble jan05.jpg Hirundapus caudacutus Apodidae 169 km/h[3]

[note 2]
105 mph

169 km/h

105 mph

High-speed wings
Common swift Apus apus 01.jpg Apus apus Apodidae [13] 111.6 km/h[3]

69.3 mph

166 km/h High-speed wings
Eurasian hobby Hobby (Falco subbuteo) (2).jpg Falco subbuteo Falconidae[14] 159 km/h Can sometimes outfly the swift as it eats them and catches them on the wing.
Frigatebird Magnificent-Frigate-male.jpg Fregata Fregatidae[15] 153 km/h Slow gliding/soaring high aspect ratio
Spur-winged goose Spur-winged Goose RWD4.jpg Plectropterus Anatidae[16] 143 km/h High-speed wings
Red-breasted merganser Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) (11).JPG Mergus serrator Anatidae[17] 130 km/h

81 mph

High–aspect ratio wings
Canvasback Canvasaback (Aythya valisineria) RWD2.jpg Aythya valisineria Anatidae[18] 128 km/h High-speed wings
Common eider Bristol.zoo.common.eider.arp.jpg Somateria mollissima Anatidae[19] 123 km/h High-speed wings
Eurasian teal Flickr - Rainbirder - EurasianTeal in flight (cropped).jpg Anas crecca Anatidae 97 km/h High–aspect ratio wings
Anna's hummingbird Anna's hummingbird.jpg Calypte anna Trochilidae 56 km/h[20]

35 mph

70 km/h Rapidly-beating wings

See also

Note

  1. ↑ Sustained ground speed for approximately nine hours with no rest on high tailwinds during an Antarctic storm.
  2. ↑ The BBC warns against taking this value too seriously, as the methods employed to measure it have never been published, rendering its verification difficult.

References

  1. ↑ "Basic Facts About Peregrine Falcon". Defenders of Wildlife. http://www.defenders.org/peregrine-falcon/basic-facts. 
  2. ↑ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (January 15, 2008). "All About the Peregrine Falcon". Department of the Interior. http://www.fws.gov/endangered/recovery/peregrine/QandA.html#fast. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jody Bourton (2 March 2010). "Supercharged swifts take flight speed record". BBC Earth News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8539000/8539383.stm. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Fastest on Earth: Malik fuel". Extreme Science. http://www.extremescience.com/peregrine-falcon.htm. 
  5. ↑ Tom Harpole (March 2005). "Falling with the Falcon". Air & Space magazine. http://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/falcon.html?c=y&page=1. 
  6. ↑ "The Saker Falcon in Austria". https://saker-info.at/biology.html. 
  7. ↑ "Saker Falcon". 2020. https://blueplanetbiomes.org/saker_falcon.php. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Kari Kirschbaum and Alicia Ivory (2002). "Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle". The Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Aquila chrysaetos.html. 
  9. ↑ "Guinness Records - Fastest Bird Level Flight". Guinness World Records Limited. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/speed/fastest-bird-level-flight. 
  10. ↑ Catry, Paulo; Phillips, Richard (13 May 2004). "Sustained fast travel by a gray-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) riding an antarctic storm". The Auk 121 (4): 1208. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2004)121[1208:SFTBAG2.0.CO;2]. 
  11. ↑ "Gyrfalcon - Animal Ark". http://animalark.org/education/learn-about-animals/raptors/gyrfalcon/. 
  12. ↑ Tucker, V. A.; Cade TJ; Tucker A. E. (July 1998). "Diving speeds and angles of a gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus)". Journal of Experimental Biology 201: 2061–2070. PMID 9622578. https://jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/201/13/2061.full.pdf. 
  13. ↑ "swifts". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2013. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/576993/swift. Retrieved 15 May 2013. 
  14. ↑ Hobby, Falco subbuteo
  15. ↑ Animal Corner; Sea Birds Frigate Bird Galapagos Sea Birds - The Great Frigate Bird and the Magnificent Frigate Bird
  16. ↑ Free find Spur-Winged Goose Plectropterus gambensis - Kenya Birds
  17. ↑ The Cornell lab of Ornithology - Cornell University Bird Guide - Red-breasted Merganser
  18. ↑ Ducks Unlimited - Wet-lands conversation Canvasback
  19. ↑ Family XXXIX. Anatinae. Ducks. Family The Eider Duck. [common Eider.] Genus Fuligula mollissima, Linn. [Somateria mollissima.]
  20. ↑ Clark, C. J.; Dudley, R. (2009). "Flight costs of long, sexually selected tails in hummingbirds". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 276 (1664): 2109–2115. doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0090. PMID 19324747. 

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