(Inside Science) Hitting turbulence on a flight at 30,000 feet can cause quite the bumpy ride. But birds who soar high in the sky don’t just handle bumpy air they seek it out for a free, energysaving lift.

But how and why do they do that?

Ever watch a bird glide through the air effortlessly, rising higher and higher without ever flapping their wings?

They do it by using a technique called thermal soaring. Birds can find hot, rising pockets of air and use the currents to stay aloft, and fly higher. For birds who migrate thousands of miles, flapping their wings for long distances would require huge amounts of energy they don’t have. So they use thermal soaring to save energy and fly for many miles.

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Inside Science is an editorially independent news service of the American Institute of Physics

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