Beautiful, unique, colorful, multi-purpose WINGS. It’s what allows birds to fly and to grab our attention. There are almost as many wing types and colorations as there are species of birds and today I figured I’d show some examples of the variety that exists. Some types of wings are designed for soaring, some for speed, others for diving and the list goes on and on. Many change with the seasons and locations and it can be a great challenge to learn them all and keep them straight.

As a photographer it can be quite difficult to capture a bird’s wings. When the bird is still, it’s not often that they display their wings spread out which means they need to be photographed while flying. Some of the challenges of that are mentioned in a previous Nature’s Domain article but an additional challenge with wings is simply the wing movement. Not only is the bird itself moving through space, but their wings are flapping as well. There have been countless times where I have nice sharp photos of the bird’s body but the wings are a smooth soft blur. Over time and lots and lots of practice I’ve been able to capture a few sharp wing photos and I have a selection of them displayed below.

I purposefully didn’t label them as to what bird they belong to but feel free to guess if you’d like and I’ll list the birds at the bottom of the page.

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The leading top photo is an Osprey
1. Canada Goose
2. Black Skimmer
3. Great Blue Heron
4. Ring-Billed Gull
5. Snowy Egret
6. White Ibis
7. Great Egret
8. Brown Pelican
9. Herring Gull
10. Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed guessing the wings.