Question: Why do different birds fly at different speeds

Alex Evans answered on 15 Mar 2017:

Hi Susan! I answered your similar question last week, but I’ll copy the answer to here just in case you didn’t see my reply!

Birds have generally evolved to fly best at the speeds they need to either look for food, escape predators or migrate around the world.

Most birds tend to fly between 5 and 50 miles per hour, but all birds can easily change their flight speed by changing how their wings move. The speed of a bird is usually determined by a few things including how fast they can flap their wings in a second (wingbeat frequency) and how heavy they are! The faster you can flap your wings, the faster you will likely be able to fly.

Although the peregrine falcon is technically the fastest flying bird (up to 250 miles per hour!), this is only achieved by diving from a great height. The fastest level-flying birds in the world are actually ducks and geese! They need fast speeds in order to escape predators such as falcons, and to get themselves across the world when they fly south for the winter 🙂